The United States Department of State has stated that Nigeria made no significant progress in fiscal transparency under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to the report, Fiscal transparency refers to the publication of information on how governments raise, spend, and manage public resources as well as publication of high quality information in that respect.
The 2019 Fiscal Transparency Report dated August 15, 2019, covered January 1 – December 31, 2018 was issued on behalf of the U.S. government by the Deputy Secretary of State, John J. Sullivan.
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 these 67, however, 13 governments made significant progress toward meeting the minimum requirements of fiscal transparency.
The Department assessed the following governments as meeting the minimum requirements of fiscal transparency for 2019: Afghanistan, Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Czech Republic, El Salvador, Estonia, Fiji, Georgia, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Israel, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kosovo, Kyrgyz Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Namibia, Nepal, North Macedonia (formerly Republic of Macedonia), Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, and Uruguay.
The following list include those governments that were found not to meet the minimum requirements of fiscal transparency and identifies whether the governments made significant progress toward meeting those requirements:
The report covered 67 countries including Algeria, Angola, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belize, Benin, Burma, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, China, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of the, Congo, Republic of the, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini (Swaziland), Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, The, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Iraq, Laos, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestinian Authority, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Suriname, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Togo, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe
On Nigeria, the report states:
“During the review period, the government made its executive budget proposal, enacted budget, and end-of-year report accessible to the general public, including online.
“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 Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation [NNPC] did not have fully audited financial reports that were available to the public.
“The government maintained off-budget accounts not subject to adequate oversight or audit. Due to oil price fluctuations, actual revenues and expenditures varied significantly from estimated figures making budget documents unreliable.
“Nigeria’s supreme audit institution completed audits of the government’s budget and reportedly made audit reports on its website.
“The criteria and procedures by which the national government awards contracts or licenses for natural resource extraction were specified in law and regulation.
“The government has appeared to follow applicable laws and regulations in practice. Basic information on natural resource extraction awards was publicly available.
“Nigeria’s fiscal transparency would be improved by:
-
publishing its executive budget proposal and enacted budget within a reasonable period of time,
-
detailing allocations to and earnings from state-owned enterprises,
-
improving the reliability of budget documents by producing and publishing a supplemental budget when actual revenues and expenditures do not correspond to those in the enacted budget,
-
making full audit reports for significant, large state-owned enterprises publicly available, and
subjecting off-budget accounts to adequate audit and oversight and making information on such accounts publicly available.”
Read the full report HERE.
