Nigeria Lacks Fiscal Transparency, Fails To Properly Disclose Revenues, Expenditures— US 

The United States Government says Nigeria is not making significant progress in fiscal transparency, citing gaps in budget disclosure, expenditure reporting, public procurement, and audit processes.

The assessment was contained in the US Department of State’s *2026 Fiscal Transparency Report*, published on Tuesday.

According to the report, although Nigeria made some key fiscal documents public, significant shortcomings remain in how the government discloses budgetary information and manages public finances.

The US said the Nigerian government made its enacted budget and end-of-year report “widely and easily accessible to the public, including online,” but failed to publish its executive budget proposal within a reasonable period.

It also noted that while information on the country’s debt obligations, including major state-owned enterprise debt, was made public, the budget documents did not provide a complete picture of government revenues and expenditures.

“The government made information on debt obligations publicly available, but 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.

The report further raised concerns over discrepancies between approved budgets and actual spending.

“Actual revenues and expenditures did not reasonably correspond to those in the enacted budget,” it said.

The US also faulted Nigeria’s supreme audit institution, saying it “did not meet international standards of independence or publish substantive reports,” despite having access to the entire executed budget.

On public procurement, the report said: “The government did not publish accessible information on public procurement contracts.”

*Positive Notes On SWF, Natural Resources*

The assessment acknowledged progress in two areas.

It said Nigeria’s sovereign wealth fund “had a sound legal framework and disclosed its source of funding and general approach to withdrawals.”

On natural resource governance, the report noted that “the government specified in law the criteria and procedures for awarding natural resource extraction contracts and licenses and followed existing regulations in practice.”

To improve transparency, the US recommended that Nigeria:

– *Publish the executive budget proposal* widely and easily, including online

– *Provide a substantially complete picture* of government revenues and expenditures in the budget

– *Break down expenditures* to support executive offices in the budget

– *Ensure actual revenues and expenditures* reasonably correspond to the enacted budget

– *Strengthen the supreme audit institution* to meet international standards of independence and publish audit reports of the executed budget

– *Publish accessible information* on public procurement contracts

The findings highlight the importance of transparent budgeting, procurement and independent auditing to accountability in the management of public resources.