The Renewed Hope Labourers Network (RHOLAN) has challenged the latest United States assessment of Nigeria’s fiscal transparency, arguing that the report did not give sufficient weight to reforms and fiscal information already publicly available.

In a statement signed by its Director General, John Ali Ude, the group said the 2026 US Fiscal Transparency Report should not be treated as a complete assessment of Nigeria’s progress in public financial management.

The US assessment reportedly concluded that Nigeria failed to meet minimum requirements for fiscal transparency for the second consecutive year and made no significant progress in improving its financial management in 2025.

The report also raised concerns about the completeness and accessibility of key budget information, particularly the disclosure of government revenues and expenditures. It also questioned whether actual government revenue and spending sufficiently reflected figures contained in the enacted budget.

RHOLAN disputed that conclusion, saying it did not adequately reflect reforms and institutional measures introduced to improve budget disclosure, financial controls and public access to fiscal information.

“The report cannot be viewed in isolation from the actual fiscal reforms and information that are publicly available in Nigeria. While there are legitimate areas for improvement, the conclusion that Nigeria made no significant progress does not adequately reflect the reforms, disclosures and institutional measures that have been introduced to strengthen public financial management,” Ude said.

The group pointed to the Budget Office of the Federation, which publishes appropriation documents and budget implementation reports, as evidence of ongoing efforts to improve fiscal disclosure.

It also cited the continued use of digital public finance systems, including the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System and the Open Treasury Portal.

According to RHOLAN, these systems are intended to strengthen financial controls, improve record-keeping and increase transparency in the management of public resources.

The group also noted that the US assessment acknowledged some areas in which Nigeria provides fiscal information publicly, including the publication of its enacted budget and end-of-year report online, as well as information relating to debt obligations and major state-owned enterprise debt.

“The fact that the report acknowledges the publication of the enacted budget, end-of-year report and debt information demonstrates that there are functioning transparency mechanisms within the system,” RHOLAN said.

The organisation further highlighted Nigeria’s participation in the Open Government Partnership, through which the country has made commitments relating to fiscal transparency, open budgeting, public procurement and citizen participation in the budget process.

RHOLAN said Nigeria’s current action plan also identifies fiscal transparency and strengthening the federal audit framework as reform priorities.

However, the group acknowledged that significant weaknesses remain within Nigeria’s public financial management system.

“We are not arguing that Nigeria has achieved perfection in fiscal transparency. There are gaps that must be addressed, particularly around procurement disclosure, audit effectiveness and the timely publication of some fiscal documents,” Ude said.

He argued that such shortcomings should be assessed alongside reforms and measurable improvements rather than used to suggest that no progress had been made.

The group also referred to World Bank assessments of Nigeria’s wider fiscal governance reforms, which have documented improvements in areas including biometric verification of public workers, procurement reforms and debt reporting, while noting that sustaining reforms and converting transparency into effective accountability remain ongoing challenges.

RHOLAN called on the Federal Government to strengthen budget implementation reporting, procurement disclosure and the capacity of audit institutions.

It also urged international organisations assessing Nigeria’s fiscal management to apply transparent methodologies and rely on evidence that can be independently verified.

“Fiscal transparency is too important to be reduced to a single verdict. What Nigerians need is continuous improvement, measurable accountability and access to reliable information on how public resources are raised and spent,” Ude said.

The group’s response comes amid continuing scrutiny of Nigeria’s management of public finances, with transparency, budget implementation and accountability remaining central to debates over the country’s fiscal governance.

According to the US report, “the (Tinubu-led) government made its enacted budget and end-of-year report widely and easily accessible to the public, including online, but did not publish its executive budget proposal within a reasonable period.”

It further stated that “…budget documents did not provide a substantially complete picture of the government’s revenues and expenditures, or break down expenditures to support executive offices in the budget.”

The report also observed that “Actual revenues and expenditures did not reasonably correspond to those in the enacted budget,” a finding that Atiku’s camp said underscores its concerns about the gap between budgetary projections and the realities of implementation.

Beyond the budget process, the US assessment also raised concerns about the independence and effectiveness of Nigeria’s audit framework. It said the Office of the Auditor-General did not meet international standards of independence and had not published substantive reports.

The Tinubu administration has however urged Nigerians to view the United States Department of State’s 2026 Fiscal Transparency Report as a limited compliance assessment rather than a comprehensive appraisal of the public-finance reforms being implemented by the administration of President Bola Tinubu.