BudgIT, Nigeria’s prominent civic-tech advocacy group for fiscal accountability, has raised serious concerns over the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Budget Office of the Federation for failing to comply with statutory financial transparency requirements.
In a statement issued by the organisation’s Group Senior Communications Associate, Nancy Odimegwu, the non-governmental organisation accused the ministry of violating the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) 2007 by refusing to release the Quarterly Budget Implementation Reports (BIRs).
According to the law, the Minister of Finance is mandated to publish the BIRs in national newspapers, electronic media, and on the ministry’s website within 30 days after the end of every quarter. These reports provide detailed accounts of the federal government’s budget performance, expenditures, and delivery of public services.
However, BudgIT lamented that since at least the second quarter of 2024, no such report has been published. This implies that by the second quarter of 2025, nearly four reports were overdue. okaynews.com reports that this marks a sharp departure from the practices of the previous administration, which released at least three reports annually.
The group emphasised that, “Budget Implementation Reports are not only a requirement of the law and established practice, they are an indication of a government’s willingness to be transparent and to provide evidence of its spending. The proof of this spending is crucial to assess the quality of implementation of its budget and, more broadly, the quality of the delivery of public goods and services.”
BudgIT criticised the administration for what it described as a troubling disregard for transparency, adding that the government’s refusal to publish these reports undermines democracy and denies citizens access to vital information about public funds.
It also pointed to the neglect of the OpenTreasury.gov platform, which previously provided daily, weekly, and monthly data on federal spending but has not been updated since January 2025. The group warned that this regression affects not only civil society monitoring but also private sector planning and academic research.
Calling for urgent reforms, BudgIT urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and relevant agencies to release the overdue reports and publish the Federal Cash Plan Disbursement Schedule, as provided under Section 26 of the FRA, in order to rebuild trust in Nigeria’s public finance system.
