US Report on Nigeria’s Fiscal Policy Not Based on Verifiable Indices — Group

The Renewed Hope Labourers Network (RHOLAN) has faulted the latest United States assessment of Nigeria’s fiscal transparency, saying the report failed to sufficiently account for verifiable reforms and publicly available fiscal information in assessing the country’s financial management.

In a statement issued on Friday and signed by its Director General, John Alli Udeh (Esq), the group said the United States Department of State’s 2026 Fiscal Transparency Report should not be treated as a complete assessment of Nigeria’s fiscal performance because some of its conclusions did not adequately reflect measures already in place to improve budget disclosure, financial management and public access to fiscal information.

The US report, released on Tuesday, said Nigeria failed to meet the minimum requirements for fiscal transparency for the second consecutive year and made no significant progress in improving its financial management in 2025.

But RHOLAN said the assessment appeared to give insufficient weight to evidence of reforms and fiscal information already being published by Nigerian institutions.

“The report cannot be viewed in isolation from the actual fiscal reforms and information that are publicly available in Nigeria. While there are legitimate areas for improvement, the conclusion that Nigeria made no significant progress does not adequately reflect the reforms, disclosures and institutional measures that have been introduced to strengthen public financial management,” Udeh said.

The group pointed to the Budget Office of the Federation, which publishes appropriation documents and budget implementation reports, including the second-quarter 2025 budget implementation report released in December.

It also cited the government’s continued use of digital public-finance systems, including the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, Government Integrated Financial Management Information System and Open Treasury Portal, which the Federal Ministry of Finance has identified as tools for improving financial control and transparency.

According to RHOLAN, the US assessment itself acknowledged some of these gains, including Nigeria’s publication of its enacted budget and end-of-year report online, as well as the availability of information on debt obligations and major state-owned enterprise debt.

“These are measurable developments that can be independently verified. The fact that the report acknowledges the publication of the enacted budget, end-of-year report and debt information demonstrates that there are functioning transparency mechanisms within the system,” the group said.

RHOLAN also drew attention to Nigeria’s participation in the Open Government Partnership, which includes commitments on fiscal transparency, open budgeting, public procurement and citizens’ participation in the budget cycle. Nigeria’s current action plan specifically identifies fiscal transparency and strengthening the federal audit framework among its reform priorities.

The group, however, said recognising existing reforms did not mean that Nigeria’s fiscal system was without weaknesses.

“We are not arguing that Nigeria has achieved perfection in fiscal transparency. There are gaps that must be addressed, particularly around procurement disclosure, audit effectiveness and the timely publication of some fiscal documents. Our concern is that these shortcomings should be assessed alongside the reforms and verifiable progress already recorded,” Udeh said.

The World Bank’s assessment of Nigeria’s wider fiscal-governance reforms has similarly documented improvements in areas including biometric verification of public workers, procurement reforms and debt reporting, although it noted that sustaining reforms and translating transparency into accountability remained challenges.

RHOLAN therefore urged the federal government to continue strengthening budget implementation reporting, procurement disclosure and audit institutions, while calling for international assessments of Nigeria’s fiscal management to rely on transparent methodologies and evidence that can be independently verified.

“Fiscal transparency is too important to be reduced to a single verdict. What Nigerians need is continuous improvement, measurable accountability and access to reliable information on how public resources are raised and spent,” Udeh declared.