The United States Government has criticised Nigeria’s fiscal transparency, saying the country has made limited progress in providing detailed information on government revenues, expenditures and budget implementation.

The concerns were contained in the US Department of State’s 2026 Fiscal Transparency Report published on Tuesday.

According to the report, while Nigeria made some key fiscal documents available to the public, the information provided did not give a comprehensive picture of government revenues and spending.

The US government also raised concerns over discrepancies between Nigeria’s approved budget and its actual implementation, particularly the lack of adequate details on spending by executive offices.

The report further criticised Nigeria’s supreme audit institution, saying it did not meet international standards for independence or publish substantive audit reports despite having access to the government’s entire executed budget.

On public procurement, the US said Nigeria continued to face transparency challenges, especially regarding public access to government contract information.

“Actual revenues and expenditures did not reasonably correspond to those in the enacted budget. The government did not publish accessible information on public procurement contracts,” the report stated.

However, the report acknowledged some areas of progress, noting that Nigeria had made information on debt obligations, including major debts owed by state-owned enterprises, publicly available.

It also said Nigeria’s sovereign wealth fund had a sound legal framework and disclosed information about its funding and general approach to withdrawals.

The US further noted that Nigeria had established legal criteria and procedures for awarding natural resource extraction contracts and licences and generally followed the existing regulations.

To improve fiscal transparency, the US government recommended that Nigeria make its executive budget proposal widely and easily accessible to the public, including through online platforms.

US Faults Nigeria Over Fiscal Transparency, Budget Implementation

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