- Highlights need for accuracy, transparency
- Releases 2024 Budget performance report September ending
BY COBHAM NSA – The Budget Office of the Federation has reaffirmed its commitment to transparency, accountability, and timely disclosure in fiscal reporting towards upholding Nigeria’s credibility with citizens
This is as the Office assured stakeholders that the delay in publishing Budget Implementation Reports (BIRs) since Q2 2024 reflects the care taken to ensure accuracy during the nation’s transition to an extended fiscal framework.
Additionally, the Budget Office is promising to release by September 2025 ending a full-year 2024 Budget Performance Report, alongside consolidated Q1–Q2 2025 reports, after which quarterly publications will resume on schedule.
Reacting to recent media commentary regarding the delayed BIRs’ publication from the second quarter of 2024 to date, the Budget Office said in a statement on Friday that, “This delay should not be seen as backsliding, but as a reflection of the care taken to ensure accuracy and credibility in Nigeria’s fiscal reporting during an exceptional budget cycle.
“By the end of September 2025, we will publish the full-year 2024 Budget Performance Report alongside the outstanding Q1–Q2 2025 reports, after which quarterly releases will resume on schedule. Our commitment to transparency, timeliness, and accountability remains unwavering.”
It further stated that the Office is also strengthening monitoring systems and digital integration to guarantee future reports are timely, credible, and of the highest integrity.
Referencing its legal mandate, the statement said, “The Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) requires the Budget Office to publish quarterly BIRs, and we acknowledge this statutory obligation and remain committed to both the letter and the spirit of the law: accuracy, timeliness, and credibility in public finance.
“We therefore urge stakeholders to see the temporary delay not as backsliding, but as a reflection of the care taken to ensure accuracy, coherence, and credibility in Nigeria’s fiscal reporting during an exceptional budget cycle.”
While highlighting the need to balance diligence with timely reporting, the statement attributed the delay in publication to two key factors namely: Verification and reconciliation processes; as well as Transition to an Extended Fiscal Framework.
On the Verification and Reconciliation Processes, the budget office explained that BIRs are not merely accounting summaries because they integrate expenditure data with physical verification of projects nationwide.
The statement added that these verification missions and reconciliations with implementing agencies took longer than anticipated, given the scale and geographic spread of appropriated projects.
Looking at the Transition to an Extended Fiscal Framework, the statement said even before the extension was formally passed, policy discussions were already pointing toward a lengthened budget horizon, noting that issuing reports on the old cycle, only to have them overtaken by a revised implementation framework, would have created conflicting datasets and misled stakeholders.
In this process, reporting timelines were temporarily adjusted to preserve coherence and accuracy in fiscal disclosures.
Going forward, the Budget Office reiterated its commitment to bridge the gap, and restore predictability by taking the following steps: A provisional Budget Performance Report for FY 2024 will be released by the end of September 2025. This interim publication, based on verified funding commitments, will provide a reliable snapshot of fiscal performance while detailed project-level verification continues through 2025;
“Beginning with Q3 2025, all BIRs will be published on schedule in line with FRA requirements. For Q1 and Q2 2025, which are already past due, the Budget Office will release consolidated reports alongside the full-year 2024 update, thereby restoring compliance with statutory timelines;
“The Budget Office is enhancing monitoring systems, deepening collaboration with MDAs, and expanding digital integration of expenditure and project data to ensure future reports are both timely and of the highest integrity.”
Addressing issues around the Budget Office’s broader commitment, the statement said the Federal Government remains resolutely committed to: Upholding Nigeria’s credibility with citizens, markets, and partners by publishing credible, accurate data; Restoring timeliness and predictability in fiscal reporting, anchoring the budget process firmly on a January–December cycle; and Continuous improvement in fiscal monitoring, transparency, and accountability.
