US report flags Nigeria’s fiscal transparency gaps
Nigeria has failed the United States’ minimum fiscal transparency requirements for a second consecutive year, with the US Department of State saying the country made no significant progress in improving the openness and management of its public finances in 2025.
The finding is contained in the department’s 2026 Fiscal Transparency Report, which assessed 139 governments and the Palestinian Authority. Only 73 met the minimum standards, while 67 fell short. Of those that failed, 14 made significant progress and 53, including Nigeria, recorded no such progress.
Nigeria has failed the United States’ minimum fiscal transparency requirements for a second consecutive year, with the US Department of State saying the country made no significant progress in improving the openness and management of its public finances in 2025.
The finding is contained in the department’s 2026 Fiscal Transparency Report, which assessed 139 governments and the Palestinian Authority. Only 73 met the minimum standards, while 67 fell short. Of those that failed, 14 made significant progress and 53, including Nigeria, recorded no such progress.
The assessment was based on information gathered by the US Embassy in Abuja, other federal agencies, international organisations and civil society groups between January 1 and December 31, 2025.
At the heart of the report’s criticism is Nigeria’s budget system, which it said did not provide the public with a sufficiently clear picture of how government raises and spends money.
The department said Nigeria’s budget documents failed to provide a substantially complete account of government revenue and expenditure, including a clear breakdown of spending by ministry and details of revenue from oil and non-oil sources.
It also identified a gap between what government approved in the budget and what was spent, saying actual revenue and expenditure did not reasonably correspond with the enacted budget.
The report further faulted the government for not publishing its executive budget proposal within the period required for meaningful public scrutiny. Under the US criteria, the proposal should be made public at least a month before the start of the fiscal year and before legislative approval.
Auditor-General’s office faulted
The State Department also raised concerns about the independence of Nigeria’s supreme audit institution, the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation.
It said the office did not meet international standards of independence and had failed to publish substantive audit reports within a reasonable period. The department stressed that effective auditing and public disclosure of findings were essential to enabling lawmakers and citizens to scrutinise government spending.
Procurement was another major concern. The report said Nigeria did not make accessible information on public procurement contracts available to the public.
Although the country had legal criteria and procedures for awarding natural-resource licences and contracts, the department said key details, including the geographical area covered, the resource involved, the duration of concessions and the companies awarded the contracts, were not made public after decisions were taken.
The report also introduced a tougher requirement on the public disclosure of sovereign loan terms, including liabilities and collateralised assets. It acknowledged that Nigeria had made information on its debt obligations, including major state-owned enterprise debt, publicly available, although it did not assess whether the terms of those loans met the new standard.
The department said fiscal transparency was central to effective public financial management because it enables citizens to scrutinise how taxes are spent, strengthens market confidence and reduces the risks associated with corruption, financial crimes and unfair business practices.
Government highlights reforms
The Presidency, through the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, said the government took the findings seriously but cautioned against treating the report as a complete assessment of Nigeria’s fiscal governance.
Dare said fiscal transparency, accountability and effective public financial management remained priorities of the Federal Government, which, he added, was implementing reforms to improve the management, reporting and disclosure of public resources.
He pointed to measures including the Open Treasury initiative, public budget documentation, debt disclosures and reforms to public procurement, as well as efforts to strengthen digital procurement and improve access to financial information.
Dare said the report should instead be viewed as an external benchmark against which existing reforms could be strengthened, adding that the government remained committed to improving fiscal reporting, strengthening audit institutions and expanding access to procurement information.
Nigeria did receive some credit. The State Department said the government had made its enacted budget and end-of-year report widely accessible, including online, and had published information on debt obligations. It also noted that Nigeria’s sovereign wealth fund had a sound legal framework and disclosed its funding sources and general approach to withdrawals.
Those gains, however, were insufficient to move Nigeria above the minimum threshold.
The department recommended that Abuja publish its executive budget proposal on time, provide a detailed breakdown of revenue and expenditure, explain significant deviations between approved and actual spending, strengthen the independence of the Auditor-General’s office, publish audit reports and make procurement contract details readily accessible.
BudgIT backs US assessment
BudgIT’s Country Director, Vahyala Kwaga, broadly agreed with the assessment, particularly its concerns over budget implementation and audit independence.
Kwaga said the problem was not necessarily the absence of budget figures but the difficulty of obtaining a clear, consolidated account of how government had spent and earned money.
He also criticised the continued limitations on the independence of the Auditor-General and the lack of public access to procurement information, including details of bidding processes.
Globally, the report found that 73 governments met the minimum requirements, while 67 did not. Fourteen of the countries that initially fell short made significant progress, including Cameroon, Chad, Ethiopia, Liberia, Libya, Niger and Senegal.
Nigeria was among 53 countries judged to have made no significant progress during the review period.
With Nigeria preparing for its next budget cycle, the report places renewed attention on whether the Federal Government can close the transparency gaps identified by Washington and give citizens a clearer account of how public money is raised, allocated and spent.
