Nigeria failed to meet the United States government’s minimum fiscal transparency requirements in 2025. The finding was contained in the 2026 fiscal transparency report released by the US department of state, on Thursday.
According to the report, Nigeria is not making any significant progress towards addressing the deficiencies identified during the review period.
The report assessed Nigeria and 138 other governments, as well as the Palestinian Authority, for the period January 1 to December 31, 2025.
It classified Nigeria among 67 governments that did not meet the minimum fiscal transparency requirements.
The report also placed the country among governments that made “no significant progress” towards meeting the requirements during the review period.
According to the US department of state, its assessment examines whether governments make key fiscal information available to the public, including budget documents, debt obligations, audit reports, natural resource contracts and public procurement information.
“Fiscal transparency is a critical element of effective public financial management, helps build market confidence, and underpins economic sustainability,” the department said.
The report also said transparency “fosters greater government accountability by providing a window into government budgets, helping citizens hold their leadership accountable and facilitating better public debate”.
According to the US, the assessment also supports business environments by strengthening public financial management and reducing the risks of corruption and unfair practices in international markets.
The report said fiscal transparency also helps to “advance internationally recognized industry standards for extractive industries to improve market access” and reduce risks associated with financial crimes such as money laundering and terrorist financing.
It said the assessment requires governments to make their executive budget proposals, enacted budgets and end-of-year reports widely and easily accessible within specified periods.
“Budget documents, including the executive budget proposal, enacted budget, and end-of-year report, should be widely and easily accessible to the public,” the report said.
The US also requires governments to make information on debt obligations publicly available, including debt linked to major state-owned enterprises.
“Information on government debt obligations, including from state-owned enterprises, should also be publicly available on a public-facing website and updated at least annually,” the report added.
The assessment further considers whether budget documents provide a substantially complete picture of planned government revenue and expenditure.
“Publicly available budget documents should provide a substantially full picture of a government’s planned expenditures and revenue, including natural resource revenues,” the US said.
The report said such documents should include expenditure broken down by ministry and revenue broken down by source and type, as well as allocations to and earnings from state-owned enterprises.
‘GOVERNMENT REVENUE SHOULD TALLY WITH BUDGET’
On reliability, the US said actual government revenue and expenditure should correspond to the enacted budget, while significant deviations should be explained and publicly disclosed.
“Budget documents and related data are considered reliable if the information contained therein is credible, meaning actual government revenues and expenditures correspond to the enacted budget,” the department added.
The assessment also examined the independence and effectiveness of supreme audit institutions, including their ability to audit annual government financial statements and publish their findings.
For countries with significant natural resource extraction activities, the US said criteria and procedures for awarding extraction contracts and licences should be publicly available and codified in law or regulation.
“The basic parameters of concessions and contracts should be made publicly available after the decision,” the report said.
However, the department cautioned that the fiscal transparency assessment should not be interpreted as a corruption ranking.
“A finding that a government ‘does not meet the minimum fiscal transparency requirements’ does not necessarily mean there is significant corruption in the government,” the department added.
“Similarly, a finding that a government ‘meets the minimum fiscal transparency requirements’ does not necessarily reflect a low level of corruption.”
According to the report, of the 140 governments assessed, including the Palestinian Authority, 73 met the minimum fiscal transparency requirements, while 67 did not.
Also, 14 of the governments that failed the requirements were assessed to have made significant progress.
The 2026 report also strengthened the criteria by requiring governments to publicly disclose the terms and conditions of sovereign loans made to foreign borrowers, including liabilities and collateralized assets.
COURTESY: TheCable
