By Joshua Tosin Ogunsakin 
The Federal High Court in Abuja has directed the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction to release the names of beneficiaries of its Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) Programme in Ondo State, covering the period from November 2024 to May 2025.
Delivering judgment on Monday, Justice Binta Nyako held that the Ministry violated the Freedom of Information Act, 2011, by refusing to grant access to the requested details. She mandated that the Ministry furnish the applicant, Myson Nejo, with the full information within seven days.
According to The Punch, Nejo, a legal practitioner and governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress in the November 2024 Ondo State election, filed the suit FHC/ABJ/CS/1222/2025 after the Ministry failed to respond to his formal request for data on the CCT programme. Through his lawyer, Vincent Adodo, Nejo sought three reliefs, including N30m in damages for the Ministry’s failure to provide the requested information.
In May 2025, The Punch had reported that then Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, now National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, claimed that “about six million Nigerians had benefited from the conditional cash transfer programme within six months.”
Following the report, Nejo, citing the FOI Act, wrote to the Ministry requesting “the names of beneficiaries and the amount disbursed to each of the 18 local government areas in Ondo State.”
The National Coordinator of the National Social Investment Programme Agency acknowledged receipt of the letter but stated that the agency was “going through its archives” to compile the requested data.
However, after months without a response, Nejo approached the court to compel the Ministry to disclose the information. At Monday’s proceedings, Adodo moved the motion on notice, urging the court to release the information “in the interest of transparency and accountability.”
Counsel to the Ministry, Ibrahim Moddibo, who led Noro Gwom, opposed the application, arguing that disclosure of beneficiaries’ names would amount to “an invasion of privacy,” which is exempt under the FOI Act.
In his reply on points of law, Adodo countered that “the public interest in disclosing how public funds were spent outweighed any potential inconvenience or privacy concern,” urging the court to uphold “the principle of transparency in governance.”
In her ruling, Justice Nyako sided with the applicant, noting that the Ministry had a legal duty to release the information under the FOI Act. The court held that the plaintiff was entitled to access the records and ordered the Ministry to provide the full list of beneficiaries and financial details within seven days.
Justice Nyako also awarded N2m in damages against the Ministry for failing to comply with the FOI request, describing the non-disclosure as “a breach of the applicant’s statutory right to information.”