Former Vice President and Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has described a recent United States Department of State report on Nigeria as further confirmation of his longstanding concerns over the management and disclosure of public finances under the Bola Tinubu administration.

The report raised concerns about the completeness and accessibility of key budget information, particularly the disclosure of government revenues and expenditures. It also questioned whether actual government revenue and spending sufficiently reflected figures contained in the enacted budget.

For Atiku, the findings reinforce the need for greater openness in the management of Nigeria’s public resources, an issue he has repeatedly placed at the centre of his criticism of the Federal Government.

According to the US report, “the (Tinubu-led) government made its enacted budget and end-of-year report widely and easily accessible to the public, including online, but did not publish its executive budget proposal within a reasonable period.”

It further stated that “…budget documents did not provide a substantially complete picture of the government’s revenues and expenditures, or break down expenditures to support executive offices in the budget.”

The report also observed that “Actual revenues and expenditures did not reasonably correspond to those in the enacted budget,” a finding that Atiku’s camp said underscores its concerns about the gap between budgetary projections and the realities of implementation.

Beyond the budget process, the US assessment also raised concerns about the independence and effectiveness of Nigeria’s audit framework. It said the Office of the Auditor-General did not meet international standards of independence and had not published substantive reports.

Atiku’s Media Office said the observations should prompt a broader conversation about how public funds are accounted for and how Nigerians are given access to information about the resources entrusted to government.

Atiku has maintained that fiscal accountability cannot be separated from economic development, investor confidence and the fight against corruption. In his view, citizens, businesses and international institutions need reliable and timely information to properly assess the state of the Nigerian economy.

“Transparency is not a slogan. It is the foundation of good governance,” he had said in one of his several interventions on the issue.

“This report confirms what we have been saying that Nigerians deserve to know where every kobo is coming from and where it is being spent. They are our resources and not the resources of President Bola Tinubu and his family and friends,” Atiku said.

The former Vice President further stressed that Nigeria’s dependence on foreign investment and multilateral financing makes credible fiscal reporting particularly important.

He called for more detailed and timely disclosure of government income from oil, taxation and borrowing, alongside clear information on how such resources are allocated and utilised.

According to Atiku, strengthening fiscal transparency would help rebuild public confidence at a time when Nigerians are confronting economic pressures, while also giving investors, development partners and credit-rating institutions a clearer picture of the country’s financial position.

The ADC Presidential candidate therefore reiterated his call for an open and accountable system in which public resources are subjected to effective scrutiny and government financial records are readily available to citizens. (The Guardian)

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