• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Nigeria, 54 others fail to make progress in fiscal transparency in 2019

Nigeria, 54 others fail to make progress in fiscal transparency in 2019

Nigeria alongside 54 other countries from around the world did not make progress in meeting the minimum requirements of fiscal transparency, according to the US Department of State 2019 Fiscal Transparency report.

Fiscal transparency fosters greater government accountability by providing a window into government budgets for citizens, helping citizens hold their leadership accountable, and facilitating better informed public debate.

A dive into the report reveals that one of the reasons Nigeria did not make progress in the survey conducted by the US Department was due to the fact that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) did not have fully audited financial reports that were available to the public.

“The executive budget proposal and the enacted budget, however, were not published within a reasonable period of time. Information on debt obligations was publicly available. Budget documents provided detailed estimates for revenue and expenditure but did not include allocations to and earnings from state-owned enterprises,” the report discloses.

According to data compiled from Budgit, a Nigeria civic start-up, the budget implementation of the federal level of Africa’s most populous nation has commenced officially in January only four times in the past 19 years from 2000-2018. The budget implementation circles were completed only in 2001, 2007, 2009 and 2013.

In conducting the 2019 review, the Department assessed the fiscal transparency of governments during the review period of January 1- December 31, 2018. The Department considered information from US embassies and consulates, other US government agencies, international organisations, and civil society organisations.

The Department concluded that, of the 140 governments evaluated pursuant to the Act plus Equatorial Guinea, 67 did not meet the minimum requirements of fiscal transparency. Of these67, however, 13 governments made significant progress toward meeting the minimum requirements of fiscal transparency.

The 13 countries that were considered to have made significant progress in 2019 were: Uzbekistan, Somalia, Madagascar, Malawi, Haiti, Guinea, Egypt, Ecuador, Djibouti, Chad, Benin, Bahrain, and Angola.

A determination of “significant progress” indicates that during the review period a government has satisfactorily addressed a key deficiency in meeting the minimum requirements of fiscal transparency. A key deficiency is some material condition or fact that causes a government not to meet the minimum requirements of fiscal transparency.

Countries like Ethiopia, Liberia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, etc., fell in the same category as Nigeria to be among the 54 countries that did not make progress in Fiscal transparency.

Commenting on Nigeria’s set back, the US Department said, “Budget documents provided detailed estimates for revenue and expenditure but did not include allocations to and earnings from state- owned enterprises. The government maintained off- budget accounts not subject to adequate oversight or audit.”