Nigeria has failed the minimum fiscal transparency requirements for the second consecutive year, according to the U.S. Department of State’s 2026 Fiscal Transparency Report.
The report, released Tuesday, said the country made no significant progress in improving its financial management or opening up its public finances in 2025.
The department assessed 139 governments and the Palestinian Authority, with only 73 meeting the minimum standards. Of the 67 that fell short, 14 made significant progress, while 53, including Nigeria, were marked as making no progress at all.
The assessment was based on information gathered by the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, other federal agencies, international organisations and civil society groups between January 1 and December 31, 2025.
The report said Nigeria’s national budget remained vague on both government revenue and expenditures, accusing the federal government of failing to provide a complete picture of its finances during the review period.
“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 stated.
It also flagged a credibility gap in budget execution, noting that “actual revenues and expenditures did not reasonably correspond to those in the enacted budget,” a marked decline from 2025, when Nigeria’s documents were assessed as substantially complete and generally reliable.
Auditor-General’s Office Lacks Independence, US Report Says
The report faulted Nigeria’s supreme audit institution, the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation (OAuGF), the body responsible for verifying how public money is spent, saying it does not meet international standards of independence and has failed to publish substantive reports despite having access to the full executed budget.
It also said public procurement processes remained opaque, with contract details not made accessible to the public, and noted that basic details of natural resource concessions, such as geographic area, resource type and awarded company, were not disclosed after decisions were made.
The report acknowledged some positives, including that Nigeria’s enacted budget and end-of-year report are published online, that debt obligation information is publicly available, and that the country’s sovereign wealth fund has a sound legal framework.
Reacting, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, said fiscal transparency remained a priority for the government, noting that the report recognised progress on budget and debt disclosure and should not be read as a complete picture of ongoing reforms, including the Open Treasury initiative and digital procurement systems.
BudgIT Country Director, Vahyala Kwaga, agreed with the US findings, saying Nigeria’s budget documents are clear on paper but implementation reporting remains poor, and that the Auditor-General’s office lacks independent control over its investigative authority or personnel.
The verdict comes amid debate over specific 2026 budget items, including a roughly ₦1.3 billion allocation to the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, an entity a House of Representatives committee is separately investigating over allegations it operated without any legal basis.
The State Department said fiscal transparency underpins market confidence, reduces corruption risk and helps citizens hold governments accountable, and urged Nigeria to publish its executive budget proposal earlier, strengthen the Auditor-General’s independence and make procurement contract details public.
