Final review of budget documents slows implementation report, Budget office claims

…as Office fail to publish reports for 3 consecutive quarters

…experts say unavailability of report drives corruption, public mistrust

The Budget Office has attributed the late release of the budget implementation report to an ongoing final review of the fiscal documents, stating that efforts were ongoing to ensure publications are uploaded on the website soon.

BusinessDay’s check revealed that the Budget Office has fallen behind on its reporting schedule, as the most recent data available on its website dates back to the second quarter of 2025.

This pose a major lapse in the country’s public finance transparency obligations and violates the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act.

Speaking to BusinessDay on the stalled financial disclosures, Afolabi Olajuwon, spokesperson at the Budget office said, “The other quarters will soon be uploaded, just give us time, they are still working on the document since you are able to access the website and got the other ones, that means in the shortest time you will get the other ones too. But they are still working on it.

“There is no specific time for noe because, you know, it takes a different group of people to work on it, both the contractors, the receivers and the office. They will have to make a cross-check. We call it a fact-check so that you don’t give the wrong reports. It takes time but we are working on it.

The delay has drawn attention at a time when Nigeria is under pressure to show fiscal discipline and transparency amid persistent revenue shortfalls, subsidy burdens, and rising debt service costs.

Speaking with BusinessDay, Vahyala Kwaga, deputy director, BudgIT, failure to publish the quarterly reports is a clear violation of the law. He added that the Tinubu-led administration has effectively rolled back the growth and stability in the publication of fiscal documents that the previous administration of late President Buhari, strove to commit to.

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Kwaga decried that this lack of clarity is particularly concerning given the administration’s significant increase in borrowing. He emphasized that without transparent data on revenue and expenditure, it becomes impossible to verify the actual destination of these borrowed funds.

He said. “The publishing of federal budget implementation reports are a clear violation of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007; specifically s. 50. This means the federal government has broken its own laws on publication (transparency), that have completely closed the door for any form of accountability. Because how can you hold the government accountable when you don’t know its financial position?

“What is more troubling is the fact that this administration has effectively rolled back the growth and stability in the publication of fiscal documents that the previous administration of late President Buhari, strove to commit to.

” As it stands, we are in the dark on how the well the government has executed its own budget. This behaviour is compounded by the fact that this administration has borrowed massively. The question then becomes: if the government is not publishing on its spending and revenue but borrowing more, how do we know what it is using the money for?”

He said that for a democratic nation like Nigeria, this failure is indefensible, as it contradicts domestic statutory requirements and violates international commitments such as the Open Government Partnership which mandate fiscal transparency as a core democratic principle.

“This is unacceptable for a democratic republic such as Nigeria that not only has laws for publishing documents but that is part of global conventions (such as the Open Government Partnership principles) that recognise the importance of such.

“The President has been an advocate for macroeconomic reform, that he has succeeded in a large part in implementing. Nigerians “dare him” to also be an advocate of transparency and accountability reform as well,” Kwaga added

Also speaking to BusinessDay, Auwal Rafsanjani, Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre said the Nigeria’s budgeting and implementation processes are currently facing significant hurdles, primarily characterized by a noticeable decline in the transparency that once defined these operations.

Rafsanjani said that lack of transparency in government’s finance breeds corruption, manipulation, and deep-seated public mistrust, adding that beyond its social impact, this secrecy undermines the integrity of the financial sector and damages the nation’s economic standing.

He stressed that the Ministry of Finance and the Budget Office must prioritize transparency to ensure Nigerians are no longer left in the dark regarding public funds.

“The budgeting process in this country and its implementation has a major challenge, challenge in the sense that the usual openness that we used to see is no longer there.

“And one of the major challenges is that when you have financial secrecy, it allows for corruption, manipulation and suspicion and mistrust within the Nigerian public. And then also, even within the financial sector, it does not do good for the country. So, therefore, the Ministry of Finance and the Budget Office need to do more in terms of openness, in terms of ensuring that Nigerians are not kept under darkness.

“Nobody knows what is going on in terms of budget implementation. Nobody knows what is going on in terms of the actual financial spending in the country. And it is a sad development because we have made that progress in the past to have regular quarterly publication.

“Even the budget itself, at a point, was not even in the website in 2026. So, it is really a concern if we really want to abide by the commitment that Nigeria has committed itself. Remember, we have signed up to open government partnerships. And making budget and its implementation open and accessible to citizens is part of the commitment of the open government partnership,” he said.

Kabir Isah, Abuja based economist said that failure to publish such report makes tracking of government’s spending difficult. He emphasized that publishing these reports is a statutory requirement from the government.

Isah also noted that the budget implementation report is critical document for investors. “The absence of these reports eliminates the ability to monitor whether funds intended for vital sectors, such as education and healthcare, are being funneled into unapproved initiatives.

“Furthermore, a perceived lack of transparency discourages civic participation, as citizens often withdraw from budget consultations when they feel their oversight is being undermined by hidden data,” Isah said.