The Federal Government has announced plans to release the long-overdue 2024 Budget Performance Report by the end of September 2025, along with the pending reports for the first and second quarters of 2025, as part of efforts to reestablish adherence to fiscal reporting standards.
In a statement issued on Friday, the Budget Office of the Federation acknowledged the delay in publishing Budget Implementation Reports since the second quarter of 2024 but emphasized that the disruption is temporary and does not reflect a loss of commitment to transparency and accountability.
The office attributed the delays to verification processes and reconciliations with implementing agencies, as well as Nigeria’s shift to a newly extended fiscal framework.
“The 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,” the statement noted.
According to the Budget Office, issuing reports on the old budget cycle would have created confusion once policy discussions began pointing towards an extended horizon.
“Issuing reports on the old cycle, only to have them overtaken by a revised implementation framework, would have created conflicting datasets and misled stakeholders,” it said.
To address the gap, the Office announced a provisional plan. “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,” it pledged.
The Budget Office stressed that the Fiscal Responsibility Act mandates it to publish quarterly BIRs, and reaffirmed its statutory obligation.
It emphasised that reports would henceforth strike a balance between diligence and timeliness, noting that they were not mere accounting summaries but integrated expenditure data with physical verification of projects nationwide.
To strengthen the process, the Office stated that it was upgrading its monitoring systems and expanding digital integration with ministries, departments, and agencies.
It also highlighted efforts to deepen collaboration across government institutions to ensure reports are timely, credible and of “the highest integrity.”
Beyond technical adjustments, the statement reaffirmed Nigeria’s broader commitment to transparency in public finance.
“Our commitment to transparency, timeliness, and accountability remains unwavering,” the Office stated, adding that credible data was essential to uphold Nigeria’s credibility with citizens, markets and international partners.
The statement also assured stakeholders that fiscal reporting would return to a predictable January–December cycle, in line with the government’s budget reforms.
