Finance Ministry Under Fire for Breaching Budget Disclosure Law

…As BudgIT demands urgent release of pending budget implementation reports

Samuel Mobolaji

BudgIT, a leading civic-tech organisation promoting fiscal transparency in Nigeria, has accused the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Budget Office of breaching the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) 2007 by failing to publish Quarterly Budget Implementation Reports (BIRs) for nearly one fiscal year.

The organisation, in a statement signed by its Senior Communications Associate, Nancy Odimegwu, and obtained by THE DAILY TIMES, described the refusal to release the reports as a violation of statute, established practice, and a reversal of hard-won transparency reforms initiated by previous administrations.

Section 30 of Part V of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007, clearly states: “The Minister of Finance shall cause the report (on the Implementation of the Annual Budget) prepared under subsection (1) of this section to be published in the mass and electronic media and on the Ministry of Finance website, not later than 30 days after the end of each quarter.”

BudgIT noted that, during the last administration, a minimum of three Quarterly BIRs were published each fiscal year. By contrast, with nearly four reports already pending, covering Q2 2024 through Q2 2025, the Tinubu administration has not published a single BIR in close to 12 months.

Budget Implementation Reports are a statutory requirement and a vital tool for transparency, providing proof of government expenditure and enabling assessment of the quality of budget execution, service delivery, and fiscal discipline. They are also critical for planning by the private sector, advocacy by civil society, and research by academia, while assuring the international community of Nigeria’s adherence to global public finance norms.

BudgIT criticised the administration for not only neglecting to publish BIRs but also failing to release the Federal Cash Plan Disbursement Schedule as mandated by section 26 of the FRA.

The group warned that the omission undermines accountability, particularly given that the government has just concluded expenditure under the 2024 Appropriation Act, with uncertainty still surrounding the implementation status of the 2024 Supplementary Budget.

Further compounding the problem, BudgIT flagged that the government has abandoned its flagship transparency platform, OpenTreasury.gov.ng, which previously published daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual expenditure data. Although imperfect, with missing MDA spending details, broken links, and data often not machine-readable, the platform was widely regarded as a symbol of Nigeria’s commitment to open governance. Disturbingly, it has not been updated since January 2025.

Commenting on the situation, BudgIT’s Group Head of Research and Policy Advisory, Vahyala Kwaga, said: “The ability of a government to hold itself accountable to its laws is expected of any democracy. The refusal of the Ministry of Finance and the Budget Office to publish what is legally required cannot be replaced by press pronouncements. Citizens deserve official financial information published by the law. Nigerians have a right to know and a right to be informed.”

BudgIT therefore called on the Ministry of Finance, the Budget Office, and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to urgently restore compliance with the Fiscal Responsibility Act by publishing the outstanding Quarterly BIRs and related expenditure performance reports for 2024.

The organisation also urged civil society, the private sector, academia, and the international community to collectively demand the immediate release of the reports to safeguard Nigeria’s fiscal transparency and accountability.