The United States Government has faulted Nigeria’s management and disclosure of public finances, saying the country failed to meet the minimum requirements of fiscal transparency, with significant gaps identified in revenue and expenditure reporting, budget implementation, auditing and public procurement.
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The assessment is contained in the United States Department of State’s 2026 Fiscal Transparency Report, released on Tuesday, August 11, 2026, following an assessment of fiscal practices during the review period covering January 1 to December 31, 2025.
The report found that while the Nigerian Government made some important fiscal documents available to the public, its budget did not provide a substantially complete picture of government revenues and expenditures.
According to the State Department, the Federal 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.
Washington also acknowledged that information on Nigeria’s debt obligations, including debt associated with major state-owned enterprises, was publicly available.
However, it faulted the level of disclosure contained in the country’s budget documents, saying they did not provide a substantially complete picture of government revenues and expenditures.
The report further raised concerns over the level of detail surrounding expenditures supporting executive offices, recommending that such spending be clearly broken down in the budget.
A major concern identified by the United States was the disparity between Nigeria’s approved budget and what was eventually realised and spent during implementation.
The report said actual revenues and expenditures did not reasonably correspond with the figures contained in the enacted budget, raising concerns over the reliability of budget estimates and execution.
The State Department consequently urged the Nigerian Government to ensure that actual revenues and expenditures reasonably correspond with those approved in the enacted budget.
It also called on the government to make its executive budget proposal widely and easily accessible to members of the public, including through online publication.
The report further faulted Nigeria’s supreme audit institution, saying it did not meet international standards of independence or publish substantive audit reports, although it had access to the entire executed budget.
Washington called for reforms that would ensure the institution responsible for auditing the Federal Government’s accounts meets international standards of independence and publishes audit reports on the government’s executed budget.
Public procurement was another area in which the State Department found Nigeria wanting.
According to the assessment, the Federal Government did not publish accessible information on public procurement contracts, despite the importance of such disclosure in promoting accountability over the use of public funds.
The United States consequently recommended that Nigeria publish accessible information on public procurement contracts.
The report, however, recorded positive findings in some areas of Nigeria’s fiscal management.
It said Nigeria’s sovereign wealth fund had a sound legal framework and disclosed its source of funding as well as its general approach to withdrawals.
The assessment also credited Nigeria over the framework governing the award of natural-resource extraction contracts and licences.
According to the State Department, the government specified in law the criteria and procedures for awarding natural-resource extraction contracts and licences and followed existing regulations in practice.
Despite those positive findings, the report identified a number of measures Nigeria must take to improve its overall fiscal transparency.
They include making the executive budget proposal widely and easily accessible to the public, providing a substantially complete picture of government revenues and expenditures in budget documents, and breaking down expenditures supporting executive offices.
The United States also asked Nigeria to ensure that actual revenues and expenditures reasonably correspond to projections contained in the enacted budget, strengthen the independence and reporting capacity of the supreme audit institution, and make information on public procurement contracts readily accessible.
The wider 2026 Fiscal Transparency Report assessed 139 governments and one entity against standards developed by the State Department in consultation with other United States government agencies.
The assessment examined, among other issues, whether key budget documents were publicly available, substantially complete and reliable, as well as the transparency surrounding government contracts, natural-resource extraction licences and public procurement.
The State Department said 73 of the 139 governments assessed met the minimum fiscal transparency requirements, while 67 governments did not. Fourteen of those that fell short were found to have made significant progress towards meeting the requirements.
Fiscal transparency, according to the Department, is intended to allow citizens to understand how governments raise and spend public resources and to strengthen accountability, public financial management and confidence in government finances.
The 2026 assessment relates specifically to fiscal practices between January and December 2025. Consequently, fiscal measures introduced by the Nigerian Government after the end of 2025 were outside the review period.
Since the beginning of 2026, the Federal Government has announced additional measures aimed at strengthening public finances, including changes to the management and remittance of oil and gas revenues.
In February, President Bola Tinubu directed that oil and gas revenues due to the Federation be paid into the Federation Account under a new framework intended to reduce deductions and strengthen government revenue inflows.
The Federal Government has also maintained that it remains committed to strengthening fiscal transparency, improving revenue mobilisation and ensuring more efficient public expenditure.
Those subsequent measures, however, do not alter the State Department’s findings for the January-to-December 2025 review period upon which the 2026 Fiscal Transparency Report was based.
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