Nigeria: U.S. Report Vindicates Atiku On Tinubu Govt's Fiscal Transparency

What the report says

Atiku Abubakar, the African Democratic Congress presidential candidate and Nigeria’s former vice president, has used a recent U.S. State Department report to back up his long-running criticism of the Tinubu administration’s handling of public finances. According to reporting carried by Vanguard and distributed by AllAfrica, Atiku’s media office said the assessment supports his claim that the federal government has not met acceptable standards of fiscal transparency and disclosure.

The report, cited by Atiku aide Paul Ibe on X, raised concerns about how the Nigerian government presented its budget and spending information. It said public access existed for some documents, such as the enacted budget and year-end report, but also pointed to delays in releasing the executive budget proposal and gaps in the detail provided on revenues and expenditures. The assessment further said actual revenue and spending figures did not clearly match the approved budget during implementation.

The report also flagged concerns about the Office of the Auditor-General, saying it did not meet international standards of independence and had not published substantive reports. On that basis, it concluded that Nigeria did not meet minimum fiscal transparency requirements during the period under review. Atiku said the findings reinforced his argument that Nigerians should be able to track public money, and he linked greater openness to investor confidence, anti-corruption efforts and support for economic growth. For context, fiscal transparency is often treated by international lenders and investors as a sign of governance quality.