The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has intensified efforts to strengthen the country’s economic data architecture by digitalising the sub-national fiscal survey across the 36 states, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and 774 local government areas.
Key Highlights
- CBN is digitalising the sub-national fiscal survey across 36 states, the FCT and 774 LGAs.
- The move replaces a largely manual, twice-yearly process and supports a shift to quarterly returns.
- CBN Statistics Director Usman Okpanachi says reliable fiscal data is key as the bank moves towards inflation targeting.
- The nationwide engagement began on October 26 and is expected to end with the FCT on December 9 and 10.
- As of November 6, 16 states and their LGAs had been covered.
The initiative aims to replace the largely manual reporting process and improve the timeliness, accuracy, consistency and precision of fiscal data for monetary, fiscal and broader economic policy decisions.
Speaking at the sub-national fiscal statistics stakeholders’ engagement held in Abeokuta, Ogun State, the Director, Statistics Department of the CBN, Usman Okpanachi, said the initiative aims to strengthen the information chain linking fiscal transactions in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and local governments to evidence-based policy making.
Why Fiscal Data Matters for Monetary Policy
Okpanachi explained that reliable fiscal statistics are critical to sound economic management, enabling governments to assess revenue performance, expenditure patterns, financing needs and fiscal pressures, and providing policymakers with a clearer picture of public-sector activity and its implications for aggregate demand, liquidity, borrowing conditions and inflation.
He said timely and reliable data has become increasingly important as the CBN strengthens its forward-looking, data-dependent monetary policy framework and moves towards a more explicit inflation-targeting regime.
The CBN director noted that the largely manual, twice-yearly sub-national fiscal survey faces challenges with timeliness, logistics, validation, and processing.
According to him, the digitalisation initiative would address these constraints by standardising data entry, improving validation, simplifying submissions, enabling better monitoring and traceable corrections, and supporting the transition to more frequent and sustainable quarterly rendition of returns.
Okpanachi emphasised that technology would complement, rather than replace, sound record-keeping, proper reconciliation and professional judgement.
He urged states and local governments to anchor implementation in timeliness, integrity and continuity by ensuring prompt submission, proper validation and reconciliation of data, and the appointment of designated focal officers to ensure institutional continuity.
The apex bank director explained that the initiative’s success would ultimately be measured by more complete and consistent returns, faster submissions, improved validation, and better fiscal information for decision-making.
He assured stakeholders of the apex bank’s continued technical and operational support through its branches and the statistics department.
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16 States Covered So Far
The nationwide engagement, which commenced on October 26, 2026, is expected to cover the remaining states by December 4, with the FCT scheduled for December 9 and 10.
The practical sessions would enable state and local government fiscal officers to use the digital questionnaire, understand validation requirements, and practise submission and correction procedures.
As of November 6, 2026, 16 states and their local governments had been covered, with strong government support and attendance reaching 100 percent in almost all the states visited.
Following the exercise, trained officers are expected to cascade the knowledge within their institutions and begin submitting returns through the digital platform, while the CBN statistics department consolidates implementation outcomes into a national report.
The initiative, part of the CBN’s broader data architecture and transformation agenda, is expected to strengthen fiscal data for state and local government planning, budgeting and policy evaluation, while providing more timely and reliable information for monetary, financial and fiscal policy decisions.
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