Nigeria failed to meet the United States government’s minimum fiscal transparency requirements for 2025, with the US Department of State citing weaknesses in budget disclosure, audit independence, procurement transparency and the reliability of fiscal information.
The findings are contained in the US Department of State’s 2026 Fiscal Transparency Report, released in August 2026, which assessed public financial management practices during the period from January 1 to December 31, 2025. Nigeria was among 67 of the 140 governments and the Palestinian Authority that failed to meet the minimum standards. The country was also classified as having made “no significant progress” in addressing previously identified deficiencies.
Key Highlights
Nigeria failed the US fiscal transparency requirements for the second consecutive year.
Executive budget proposals were not published within the required timeframe.
Budget documents did not provide a substantially complete picture of government revenues and spending.
Actual revenues and expenditures did not reasonably correspond with the enacted budget.
The supreme audit institution fell short of international independence standards.
Public procurement contract information was not easily accessible.
Nigeria received positive assessments on some debt and natural resource transparency measures.
The US assessment focuses on the public availability, completeness and reliability of key budget documents, disclosure of debt obligations, independence and reporting by supreme audit institutions, transparency in natural resource contracts and licences, and access to public procurement information.
The State Department stressed that the assessment is not a corruption ranking. According to the report, failure to meet the fiscal transparency standards does not necessarily indicate significant corruption, just as meeting the requirements does not guarantee a low level of corruption.
Nigeria’s Major Fiscal Transparency Shortcomings
According to the Nigeria country assessment, the government made its enacted budget and end-of-year report widely accessible to the public, including through online platforms. Nigeria also publicly disclosed information on debt obligations, including major debts associated with state-owned enterprises.
However, the country failed to meet several other requirements. The US report said Nigeria did not publish its executive budget proposal within a reasonable period. Under the assessment criteria, the proposal should generally be made available at least one month before the beginning of the fiscal year and before legislative approval to allow meaningful public participation.
The report also found that Nigeria’s budget documents did not provide a substantially complete picture of government revenues and expenditures. In addition, expenditure supporting executive offices was not adequately broken down.
Another concern was the gap between projected and actual government finances. The report said actual revenues and expenditures did not reasonably correspond with those contained in the enacted budget, raising concerns about the reliability of the budget process.
Audit Institution Raises Concern
The US assessment also identified weaknesses involving Nigeria’s supreme audit institution.
According to the report, the institution did not meet international standards for independence and did not publish substantive reports, although it had access to the government’s entire executed budget.
The US government recommended that Nigeria strengthen the independence of its supreme audit institution and ensure that audit reports on the executed budget are published.
Procurement Information Not Easily Accessible
Nigeria also failed to meet the report’s requirement for accessible information on public procurement contracts.
The US assessment recommended that the government publish information on public procurement contracts in a manner that allows citizens and other stakeholders to easily access and scrutinise government spending.
Areas Where Nigeria Performed Better
Despite the shortcomings, the assessment identified areas of progress.
Nigeria was credited with having a sound legal framework governing its sovereign wealth fund, including disclosure of funding sources and approaches to withdrawals.
The report also noted the existence of legal criteria and procedures for awarding natural resource extraction contracts and licences, with the procedures being followed in practice.
US Recommendations for Nigeria
The report identified several steps Nigeria could take to improve its fiscal transparency rating.
The recommendations include publishing the executive budget proposal online and within the required timeframe, providing a substantially complete picture of government revenues and expenditures, and breaking down expenditure supporting executive offices.
The US also urged Nigeria to improve the correspondence between actual and budgeted revenues and expenditures, strengthen the independence of its supreme audit institution, publish substantive audit reports and provide accessible information on public procurement contracts.
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Nigeria’s Second Consecutive Failure
The 2026 assessment marks the second consecutive year Nigeria failed to meet the US minimum fiscal transparency requirements.
Nigeria was listed alongside other major African economies, including Egypt and Algeria, among countries classified as having made “no significant progress.” Other countries, including South Africa and Morocco, received more favourable assessments on progress.
The US Department of State said fiscal transparency promotes sound public financial management, strengthens accountability, supports economic sustainability and can improve market confidence.
The annual assessment also helps the United States determine whether governments receiving US foreign assistance maintain adequate standards for the transparent management of public resources.
The Nigerian Presidency has framed the findings as an external benchmark rather than a complete assessment of the country’s fiscal governance, while reiterating its commitment to improving transparency, accountability and public financial management.
Overall, the report attributes Nigeria’s failure to weaknesses in budget completeness and reliability, discrepancies between planned and actual government finances, delayed publication of the executive budget proposal, inadequate audit independence and reporting, and limited access to public procurement information.
