Nigeria has failed to meet the United States’ minimum fiscal transparency requirements for a second consecutive year, with Washington finding no significant improvement in the country’s budget disclosure and public financial management during 2025.
The finding was contained in the U.S. Department of State’s 2026 Fiscal Transparency Report, an annual assessment of governments’ public financial practices. The report evaluates whether countries receiving or seeking U.S. assistance provide sufficient information on public revenues, spending, budgets, procurement and auditing.
The assessment found that 73 of 140 governments and entities reviewed met the minimum transparency standards. Of the 67 that did not, 14 recorded significant progress, while 53, including Nigeria, were judged to have made no significant progress.
The U.S. assessment highlighted several shortcomings in Nigeria’s fiscal reporting framework. These included inadequate disclosure of government revenues and expenditures, weaknesses in matching actual budget execution with approved plans and insufficiently independent auditing arrangements.
The report also raised concerns about the availability of public procurement information and the timing of the executive budget proposal.
The findings are significant because transparent fiscal reporting helps investors, lenders and citizens assess how public resources are raised, allocated and spent.
They also come as the International Monetary Fund continues to urge Nigeria to strengthen its budget process and fiscal reporting. In its 2026 Article IV assessment, the IMF identified a statistical discrepancy equivalent to 2.7% of GDP in 2025 that could reflect spending not captured by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation. The Fund has called for stronger fiscal transparency and better reporting of spending outside the budget framework.
The Presidency has acknowledged the U.S. assessment while arguing that it should not be treated as a complete verdict on Nigeria’s fiscal governance.
Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, said the report should instead serve as an external benchmark for strengthening ongoing reforms.
The government has pointed to initiatives including the Open Treasury portal, expanded budget disclosures, debt reporting and digital procurement reforms as evidence of efforts to improve accountability.
The U.S. recommendations include timely publication of executive budget proposals, stronger audit independence and greater public access to procurement information.
For Nigeria, the challenge now extends beyond passing an international transparency test. Greater disclosure could improve investor confidence, strengthen legislative oversight and make fiscal policy more credible as the government seeks to finance infrastructure while managing elevated debt-service costs.
The IMF has likewise stressed that eliminating spending outside the budget perimeter and improving fiscal governance remain important to Nigeria’s economic reform agenda.
