US Report: Nigeria fails fiscal transparency standards for second consecutive year, makes no progress

Nigeria has failed minimum fiscal transparency requirements for the second consecutive year, with the US Department of State’s 2026 Fiscal Transparency Report finding the country made no significant progress in improving public financial management throughout 2025.

As reported by Vanguard, the report — which assessed 140 governments — found Nigeria among 53 countries making no progress, with the State Department specifically citing failures to provide a complete picture of government revenues and expenditures, inadequate budget breakdowns and a credibility gap between enacted budgets and actual spending.

“Actual revenues and expenditures did not reasonably correspond to those in the enacted budget,” the report stated, marking a significant decline from 2025 when Nigeria’s budget documents were described as “substantially complete.”

The Presidency maintained that transparency remained a government priority. The findings arrive as Nigeria simultaneously implements three budgets — 2024, 2025 and 2026 — amid widespread public complaints about poor budget execution.