Nigeria's score on the open budget index dipped from 24 in 2015 to 17. In Africa, Nigeria currently ranks 23 behind Rwanda, Zimbabwe and Liberia. The Open Budget Index assesses the comprehensiveness and timeliness of budget information that governments make publicly available.
ADVERTISEMENT
Nigeria’s rank on budget transparency index will interest you
Nigeria’s rank dropped in the recently released Open budget index to 90th position.
BudgIT, a civic organisation, expressed disappointment at Nigeria's current position on fiscal transparency and public participation in the budget process.
The organisation noted in a statement that Africa's largest economy had "apparently taken steps backwards despite persistent advocacy by citizens and repeated promises by the government to improve."
ADVERTISEMENT
According to BudgIT, the federal government of Nigeria provides her citizens with insufficient budget information making it difficult for taxpayers to understand how elected officials utilise available resources.
In addition, it argued that the country's budget process takes very little feedback from the public, and the final budget document does not reveal how the meagre feedbacks are used.
"Nigeria's low rank can be connected to the failure of the federal government to produce the mid-year review. Also, the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and the Budget Implementation Reports were published late while the content of all budget documents produced in Nigeria falls short on the minimum acceptable global standards as itemised in the Global Initiative for Fiscal Transparency Framework," it added.
Therefore, BudgIT urged the federal government to improve the timeliness of the release of its essential budget documents and run an open budget system.
It noted that it was also vital that Nigeria improves on the comprehensiveness of the critical budget documents, including the MTEF, the Budget Implementation Reports, the executive budget proposal, the enacted budget and the year-end report.
JOIN OUR PULSE COMMUNITY!
ADVERTISEMENT
Eyewitness? Submit your stories now via social or:
Email: eyewitness@pulse.ng
ADVERTISEMENT