Nigeria failed fiscal transparency test for 2nd year. Budget figures did not add up – US Report

Nigeria has failed to meet minimum fiscal transparency requirements for the second consecutive year, with the United States Department of State concluding that the country made no significant progress in improving its public financial management or opening its public finances. In 

its 2026 Fiscal Transparency Report, the State Department evaluated 139 governments alongside the Palestinian Authority, finding that only 73 met basic benchmarks. 

Nigeria was grouped among 53 nations assessed as making no measurable progress during the review period spanning January 1 to December 31, 2025.  The findings come amid ongoing domestic concerns regarding budget execution, particularly as federal authorities operate multiple budget cycles simultaneously. In an initial reaction, the Presidency maintained that transparency, accountability, and effective public financial management remain primary commitments of the federal administration.  

However, the U.S. report issued a stern critique of Nigeria’s budgetary procedures, noting that national spending frameworks remain vague regarding revenue streams and allocations. The Department of State highlighted that federal disclosures failed to offer a comprehensive accounting of national finances.  

“Budget documents did not provide a substantially complete picture of the government’s revenues and expenditures, or break down expenditures to support executive offices in the budget,”  The report also pointed to a growing gap between fiscal planning and actual implementation, emphasizing that:“actual revenues and expenditures did not reasonably correspond to those in the enacted budget.”  

This assessment represents a shift from 2025, when U.S. evaluations noted that Nigeria’s:“budget documents provided a substantially complete picture of the government’s planned expenditures and revenue and were generally reliable.”  

While acknowledging that Nigeria made its enacted budget and end-of-year figures accessible online, the report faulted the executive branch for failing to release its budget proposal prior to legislative approval. Under international benchmarks, executive proposals should be published at least one month before the start of the fiscal year to facilitate meaningful public debate. 

 The report further criticized the independence and output of Nigeria’s Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation (OAuGF). Despite having access to executed budget data, the supreme audit institution failed to publish substantive reports or adhere to international independence standards.

“The supreme audit institution should meet international standards of independence, audit the executed budget, and verify the annual financial statements. The results of such audits… should be published within a reasonable period,”  On public procurement and natural resources, the assessment found that details surrounding government contracts remain shielded from public view. 

While legal criteria for awarding natural resource extraction licenses exist and are followed in practice, key concessions—including geographical parameters, resource scope, contract duration, and awarded entities—are routinely withheld following decision-making. Furthermore, updated State Department reporting standards require governments to publish sovereign loan terms, collateralized assets, and debt liabilities; while Nigeria disclosed general debt obligations, the specific terms of these loans were not fully evaluated under the updated criteria.  

Emphasizing that fiscal openness is fundamental to economic stability, market confidence, and corruption prevention, the State Department concluded:“Transparency provides citizens a window into government budgets and those citizens, in turn, hold governments accountable. It underpins market confidence and growth,”