Nigeria moves to strengthen public-sector financial management

Nigeria has joined an African programme that seeks to improve public financial management by focusing on the people leading reforms, not only the systems they use.

The African Capacity Building Foundation, with support from the Gates Foundation, is running the Leadership and Governance in Public Financial Management programme for senior officials. Nigeria and Tanzania joined its second cohort, while Ethiopia became the ninth country to take part in the third cohort.

ACBF Executive Secretary Mamadou Biteye said the programme goes beyond conventional technical training. It combines self-assessment, personal development plans, individual and group coaching, peer learning, technical assistance and case-based work on real public financial management challenges.

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The programme seeks to enhance the leadership capabilities of senior officials, those who are in the heart of PFM reform implementation, while also establishing a platform for peer-to-peer learning between African PFM leaders and information sharing between themselves.

“The programme seeks to enhance the leadership capabilities of senior officials, those who are in the heart of PFM reform implementation, while also establishing a platform for peer-to-peer learning between African PFM leaders and information sharing between themselves,” Biteye said. More than 295 participants across eight African countries have enrolled since the programme began in 2024.

Biteye said the programme aims to turn leadership development into behavioral change and institutional transformation. He argued that policies and technical tools cannot deliver lasting reform without people able to implement and sustain them: “Systems do not reform themselves. Budgets do not implement themselves. Digital platforms do not transform institutions by themselves. Policies do not deliver results by themselves. People do. And when they are equipped, inspired, and supported, institutions change.”

Adil Abarabu, a senior programme officer at the Gates Foundation, said technical capacity alone was insufficient. He identified leadership challenges such as managing resistance to change, working across institutional boundaries and sustaining reforms as central obstacles facing public financial management officials.

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Systems do not reform themselves. Budgets do not implement themselves. Digital platforms do not transform institutions by themselves. Policies do not deliver results by themselves. People do. And when they are equipped, inspired, and supported, institutions change.