US report vindicates Atiku’s claims on Tinubu’s fiscal transparency – Media team
The Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress, Atiku Abubakar, has said a recent report by the United States Department of State has validated his long-standing concerns over the Bola Tinubu administration’s handling of public finances.
Atiku, a former Vice President, made the assertion in a statement issued by his media office in Abuja on Thursday following the US government’s assessment of fiscal transparency in Nigeria.
The report raised concerns about the government’s disclosure of public revenues and expenditures, including the timeliness and completeness of budget information made available to Nigerians.
According to the report, although the government made its enacted budget and end-of-year report publicly accessible, including online, it failed to publish its executive budget proposal within a reasonable timeframe.
It further stated that Nigeria’s budget documents did not provide a substantially complete picture of government revenues and expenditures and did not adequately break down spending relating to executive offices.
The report also identified discrepancies between the approved budget and the actual revenues and expenditures recorded during implementation.
“Actual revenues and expenditures did not reasonably correspond to those in the enacted budget,” the report stated.
The US assessment also raised concerns about the independence and effectiveness of the Office of the Auditor-General, saying it did not meet international standards of independence and had not published substantive reports.
Atiku said the findings reinforced his repeated criticisms of the Federal Government over what he described as inadequate disclosure of how public resources are generated and spent.
The former Vice President argued that the absence of comprehensive and timely fiscal information undermined accountability and made it difficult for citizens and investors to properly assess the country’s financial position.
“This is precisely what Atiku Abubakar has been saying for years: that Nigerians are being kept in the dark about how public resources are generated and spent,” the statement said.
Atiku maintained that fiscal transparency was essential to attracting investment, tackling corruption and rebuilding confidence in public institutions.
“Transparency is not a slogan. It is the foundation of good governance,” he said, recalling one of his previous interventions on fiscal accountability.
Reacting specifically to the US findings, Atiku said Nigerians had a right to know how public resources were being generated and utilised.
“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,” he said.
He further stressed that transparent fiscal management was an important consideration for investors, donor organisations and international credit-rating agencies assessing the Nigerian economy.
According to him, Nigeria’s dependence on foreign investment and multilateral financing for infrastructure and social programmes makes credible disclosure of public finances even more important.
Atiku called for the publication of comprehensive and timely information on government revenues from oil, taxation and borrowing, as well as detailed records showing how such funds are spent.
He said greater transparency would help restore confidence in the economy, particularly amid concerns over Nigeria’s rising debt burden and inflation.
The ADC presidential candidate reiterated that Nigerians should be able to independently track public resources from the point of generation to expenditure, describing such disclosure as fundamental to accountable democratic governance.
