Aug 12, 2026

US Report Finds Nigeria Lacks Fiscal Transparency Under Tinubu Government

By Afolabi Olaiya Idowu in news

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Abuja / Washington – August 12, 2026 — The United States government has concluded that Nigeria continues to fall short on fiscal transparency, saying the Tinubu administration failed to properly disclose revenues and expenditures in key public finance documents.

The assessment is contained in the US Department of State’s 2026 Fiscal Transparency Report, released on Tuesday.

While acknowledging that Nigeria made some progress by publishing its enacted budget and end-of-year report online, the report identified significant shortcomings that prevent a full and accurate picture of public finances.

According to the report, Nigeria’s budget documents did not provide a substantially complete picture of government revenues and expenditures. They also failed to adequately break down spending for executive offices.

More critically, the US noted that “actual revenues and expenditures did not reasonably correspond to those in the enacted budget,” raising questions about the reliability of budget planning and execution.

The report criticized Nigeria’s supreme audit institution for falling short of international standards of independence.

Despite having access to the entire executed budget, the institution did not publish substantive audit reports, the US government said.

On public procurement, the assessment found that the government “did not publish accessible information on public procurement contracts,” limiting public and stakeholder scrutiny of how contracts are awarded and managed.

The US report was not entirely negative. It noted that Nigeria made information on debt obligations — including major state-owned enterprise debt — publicly available.

The country’s sovereign wealth fund was described as having a sound legal framework and disclosing information about its funding and withdrawal approach.

Nigeria was also credited with establishing legal criteria and procedures for natural resource extraction contracts and licences and generally following those regulations in practice.

Recommendations for Improvement

To strengthen fiscal transparency, the US government recommended that Nigeria:

- Make its executive budget proposal widely and easily accessible to the public, including online

- Provide a substantially complete picture of revenues and expenditures in budget documents

- Improve the breakdown of spending for executive offices

- Ensure that actual revenues and expenditures more closely match approved budget projections

The findings add to ongoing domestic debates about budget credibility, off-budget spending and the quality of public financial management in Nigeria.

Civil society groups and opposition figures have repeatedly called for greater openness in how public funds are planned, spent, and accounted for.

As the Tinubu administration continues to implement economic reforms, the US assessment underscores that improved transparency remains a critical test of fiscal credibility both at home and with international partners.