The U.S. has classified the Nigerian government among those that are not fiscally transparent.

The classification, contained in a report released Thursday by the U.S Department Of State, means Nigeria’s budgeting process, including its contracting and licensing processes in the extractive industry, did not meet the standards required of the American government.

The report, called the 2019 Fiscal Transparency Report, covers January 1 to December 31, 2018.

It assessed the fiscal transparency of 141 national governments that receive U.S assistance.

Seventy-four of the 141 governments met the minimum requirements of fiscal transparency, while 13 of the 67 that fell short of the standards made “significant progress”, the report said.

Nigeria is neither among the 74 that met the minimum requirements nor among the 13 adjudged to have made significant progress.

Some of the African countries classified alongside Nigeria are Egypt, Ethiopia, and the Gambia.

Gabon, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Togo, Tanzania, Sudan, South Sudan, Niger, Mozambique, Mali, Lesotho, and Cameroon are also among the African countries whose governments failed the U.S transparency assessment.

China, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Lebanon, and Ukraine are among non-African countries that failed to meet the American government requirements.

“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,” the report said of Nigeria.

“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 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.”

The report said, for Nigeria’s fiscal transparency to improve, the government must take the following actions:

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.

Subjecting off-budget accounts to adequate audit and oversight and making information on such accounts publicly available.

The U.S. said the report did not assess corruption, but that lack of fiscal transparency could encourage corruption.

“A finding that a government ‘does not meet the minimum requirements of fiscal transparency’ does not necessarily mean there is significant corruption in the government.Similarly, a finding that a government ‘meets the minimum requirements of fiscal transparency’ does not necessarily reflect a low level of corruption,” the report said.

The U.S said the report was done with inputs from international organisations and civil society organisations.

NaijaRoyalty:
Nigeria is indeed a shithole

Buhari is more corrupt than Awolowo and Tinubu put together .

crownwealth:
[s][/s]

Only bastards have no respect for their father.

Auladimeji1:
So Buhari is not someone's father,what you can never say to your father,till you perish never say it to someone's father.
Moreover Buhari is more useful to Nigerians than all your generation combine.
If he pain you go and drink holy water.Nonsense

F117nighthawk:
It's only a fool or anyone benefitting from the rot in the system that will claim not to know this,We don't need the US to tell us,why is NIGERIA amongst the most corrupt countries if there is TRANSPARENCY? everything stinks in NIGERIA, even God wey create am don tire for am

Auladimeji1:
So Buhari is not someone's father,what you can never say to your father,till you perish never say it to someone's father.
Moreover Buhari is more useful to Nigerians than all your generation combine.
If he pain you go and drink holy water.Nonsense

The United States Department of State has said that Nigeria made no significant progress in fiscal transparency .

Fiscal transparency refers to the publication of information on how governments raise , spend, and manage public resources .

More specifically , it means publication of high quality information on how governments raise taxes, borrow , spend , invest , and manage public assets and liabilities .

This was the submission of the U . S . Department of State 2019 Fiscal Transparency Report spanning January 1 – December 31 , 2018 .

The report describes the minimum requirements of fiscal transparency developed, updated , and strengthened by the Department in consultation with other relevant federal agencies .

It reviews governments that were originally identified in the 2014 Fiscal Transparency Report , and assesses those that did not meet the minimum fiscal transparency requirements and indicates whether those governments made significant progress toward meeting the requirements during the review period of January 1 – December 31 , 2018 .

The report also provides a description of the use of the Fiscal Transparency Innovation Fund.
The American Government undertakes annual reviews of the fiscal transparency of governments that receive U .S . assistance .

The assessment helps to ensure that U .S . taxpayer funds are used appropriately and provide opportunities to dialogue with governments on the importance of fiscal transparency .

Released on Thursday , the report notes that the minimum requirements of fiscal transparency include having key budget documents that are publicly available , substantially complete, and generally reliable .

“ The review includes an assessment of the transparency of processes for awarding government contracts and licenses for natural resource extraction , ” it states.

Continuing , the report states, “ Fiscal transparency is a critical element of effective public financial management , helps build market confidence , and underpins economic sustainability .”

It adds that fiscal transparency fosters greater government accountability by providing a window into government budgets for citizens, helping citizens hold their leadership accountable , and facilitating better - informed public debate.

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 .
Nigeria is one of the countries that did not meet the minimum requirements for fiscal transparency

see full report here: https://www.state.gov/2019-fiscal-transparency-report/