Nigeria fails fiscal transparency test for 2nd year, US Report

Nigeria has failed to meet the minimum fiscal transparency requirements for the second year in a row, the U.S. Department of State reported Tuesday. The 2026 Fiscal Transparency Report found that the country made no significant progress in improving its financial management and opening up its public finances in 2025.

The report assessed 139 governments, with Nigeria among 53 nations marked as making no progress. This assessment comes as the Nigerian government is simultaneously running three budgets – 2024, 2025, and 2026 – amidst public complaints about poor budget implementation. The U.S. Embassy in Abuja, along with other federal agencies, international organizations, and civil society groups, provided information for the report, covering the period from January 1 to December 31, 2025.

The U.S. report delivered a critical verdict on Nigeria's budget process, stating that the national budget is vague on government revenue and expenditures. It specifically accused 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.

Furthermore, the report highlighted a credibility gap in budget execution, noting that "actual revenues and expenditures did not reasonably correspond to those in the enacted budget." This marks a decline from 2025, when the U.S. had stated Nigeria's budget documents provided a substantially complete and generally reliable picture. While Nigeria published its enacted budget and end-of-year report online, the government did not publish its executive budget proposal within a reasonable timeframe. In response, the Presidency stated that transparency and effective public financial management remain key priorities for the federal government.