Presidency Responds as US Raises Nigeria’s Fiscal Transparency Concerns

The Presidency has rejected any attempt to treat a United States assessment of Nigeria’s fiscal transparency as a complete verdict on the country’s public financial management, saying the report should instead be viewed as an external benchmark.

Special Adviser to the President on Media, Sunday Dare, said the Federal Government took the findings seriously but remained committed to improving fiscal transparency, accountability and the management of public resources.

His response followed the release of the 2026 Fiscal Transparency Report by the United States Department of State, which placed Nigeria among 67 of 140 governments that failed to meet minimum fiscal transparency requirements during the 2025 review period.

The report pointed to shortcomings in Nigeria’s budget disclosure, revenue and expenditure reporting, audit independence and public procurement transparency.

It also acknowledged that the country had made some fiscal information, including its enacted budget, end-of-year report and debt obligations, publicly available.

Dare said the assessment was based on specific requirements set by the US Department of State, rather than a broad review of every fiscal reform being implemented by Nigeria.

He said: “Fiscal transparency, accountability and effective public financial management remain important priorities of the Federal Government, and Nigeria continues to implement reforms aimed at strengthening the management, reporting and disclosure of public resources.”

He said the report focused particularly on the disclosure of national budget information, government contracts and natural-resource licences.

“It should therefore not be interpreted as a comprehensive assessment of all fiscal and public financial management reforms currently underway in Nigeria,” Dare said.

The adviser said the government had introduced mechanisms such as the Open Treasury initiative, public budget documentation and debt disclosures, alongside reforms in public procurement.

He added that digital procurement and other systems were also being strengthened to improve the accessibility, reliability and timeliness of public financial information.

The US report, however, said Nigeria made no significant progress in addressing deficiencies identified during the review period.

It said while the enacted budget and end-of-year report were made widely accessible, including online, the executive budget proposal was not published within a reasonable period.

The report also found that although information on government debt, including major state-owned enterprise obligations, was available, budget documents did not provide a substantially complete picture of government revenue and expenditure.

Dare said the findings should neither be dismissed nor presented as a complete description of Nigeria’s fiscal governance.

“The appropriate response, therefore, is neither to dismiss the findings nor to portray them as a complete characterisation of Nigeria’s fiscal governance,” he said.