The United States Government has raised concerns over Nigeria’s fiscal transparency, saying the country has not made significant progress in key areas including budget disclosure, expenditure reporting, public procurement and independent auditing.
The concerns were contained in the 2026 Fiscal Transparency Report released by the US Department of State on Tuesday.
According to the report, Nigeria made some key fiscal documents available to the public, including its enacted budget and end-of-year report. However, the US government said significant shortcomings remain in the disclosure of budgetary information and the management of public finances.
The report noted that Nigeria did not publish its executive budget proposal within a reasonable period, limiting public access to important information about government spending plans.
It also said that although information on Nigeria’s debt obligations, including major state-owned enterprise debt, was publicly available, the country’s budget documents did not provide a substantially complete picture of government revenues and expenditures.
Another concern was the level of detail provided in the budget. The US government said expenditures supporting executive offices were not sufficiently broken down, making it more difficult to determine how public funds are allocated.
The assessment also raised questions about budget implementation, noting that actual government revenues and expenditures did not reasonably correspond with those contained in the enacted budget.
Nigeria’s supreme audit institution was another area criticised in the report. The US government said the institution did not meet international standards of independence and did not publish substantive reports, although it had access to the entire executed budget.
Public procurement transparency was also flagged as a major weakness. According to the report, the Nigerian government did not publish accessible information on public procurement contracts, limiting the ability of citizens and other stakeholders to scrutinise government contracting.
Despite the criticisms, the US government acknowledged some areas of progress. It said Nigeria’s sovereign wealth fund had a sound legal framework and disclosed information about its funding and general approach to withdrawals.
The report also noted that Nigeria had established legal criteria and procedures for awarding natural resource extraction contracts and licences and followed existing regulations in practice.
To improve fiscal transparency, the US government recommended that Nigeria make its executive budget proposal widely and easily accessible to the public, including online. It also called for more comprehensive disclosure of government revenues and expenditures and greater detail on spending supporting executive offices.
The US further urged the government to ensure that actual revenues and expenditures more closely correspond with approved budgets.
On auditing, the report recommended strengthening the independence of Nigeria’s supreme audit institution to meet international standards and ensuring that substantive audit reports on the government’s executed budget are published.
The US government also called for greater transparency in public procurement by making information on government contracts easily accessible to the public.
The assessment comes amid continued concerns over accountability in the management of Nigeria’s public finances, with transparency in budgeting, procurement and auditing remaining important issues for citizens, investors and development partners.
The US government’s recommendations therefore place renewed pressure on Nigeria to improve how it discloses, manages and accounts for public resources, particularly by making financial information more accessible and strengthening independent oversight.
