Nigeria failed to meet the United States government’s minimum Fiscal Transparency Test requirements for 2025, according to the 2026 Fiscal Transparency Report released by the U.S. Department of State on Tuesday.
The report assessed 139 governments alongside the Palestinian Authority over the review period spanning January 1 to December 31, 2025.
Classified among 67 governments that failed to meet the minimum standards, Nigeria was also listed among the nations making “no significant progress” toward addressing deficiencies identified in previous assessments.
The U.S. State Department noted that while Nigeria publishes some key financial documents, the country still falls short in areas such as timely budget publication, comprehensive revenue and expenditure reporting, and independent public auditing standards.
The U.S. Department of State explained that its evaluation assesses whether governments provide public access to essential fiscal data, including key budget documents, debt obligations, audit reports, natural resource contracts, and public procurement details.
The department noted that fiscal transparency test is essential for effective public financial management, building market confidence, fostering economic stability, and enabling citizens to hold their governments accountable.
“Fiscal transparency is a critical element of effective public financial management, helps build market confidence, and underpins economic sustainability,” the department said.
The report also said transparency “fosters greater government accountability by providing a window into government budgets, helping citizens hold their leadership accountable and facilitating better public debate”.
Additionally, the report highlights that fiscal transparency fosters market confidence, advances internationally recognized industry standards, mitigates financial crime risks, and requires public debt disclosures to counter predatory lending practices.
According to the assessment, governments must make their end-of-year reports, approved budgets, and executive budget proposals generally available within predetermined timeframes.
Government revenue should tally with budget
Regarding reliability, the U.S. State Department emphasized that actual government revenues and expenditures should closely align with the enacted budget, with any significant variations clearly explained and made public.
The assessment also evaluated the independence and effectiveness of supreme audit institutions, specifically reviewing their ability to audit annual government financial statements without interference and publish their findings for public review.
For countries with major natural resource extraction sectors, the report specified that the legal criteria and procedures for awarding extraction contracts and licenses must be codified in law or regulation and made fully transparent to the public.
“The basic parameters of concessions and contracts should be made publicly available after the decision,” the report said.
The department however cautioned that the fiscal transparency assessment should not be interpreted as a corruption ranking.
According to the report, 73 of the 140 entities evaluated—comprising 139 nations and the Palestinian Authority—met the minimum benchmarks for fiscal transparency, while 67 failed to meet the required standards.
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