Less than 22 days to the end of 2024, seven states — Rivers, Gombe, Kano, Kebbi, Ogun, Sokoto and Borno — have yet to publish their Budget Implementation Reports (BIRs) for the third quarter which ended in September, FIJ has gathered.
This delay flouts the Fiscal Responsibility Acts, domesticated across the 36 states, mandating BIRs to be made public within 30 days after the end of each quarter.
According to these laws, the Commissioner for Finance must publish these reports through print, electronic and digital media for public access. A typical section or subsection from a state fiscal responsibility law would read like this:
30 (1) The Commissioner, through the budget office shall monitor and evaluate the implementation of the annual budget, asses the attainment of the fiscal targets and report thereon on a quarterly basis to the Agency and the Joint Financial Committee of the House of Assembly.(2) The Commissioner shall cause the report prepared pursuant to subsection (1) of this section to be published in the print and electronic media and on Ministry of Finance website, not later than 30 days after the end of each quarter
READ ALSO: Niger Proposes N1.2trn 2025 Budget Despite Multi-Billion Underperformance
What Is a Budget Implementation Report?
A BIR is a financial report that details how government funds were spent during a specific period, often quarterly. It compares actual revenues and expenditures to budget projections, helping citizens and policymakers track fiscal performance.
Without these reports, citizens remain in the dark about how their tax money is being spent. The lack of transparency limits their ability to hold the government accountable. On the part of state governments, it suggests fiscal indiscipline and disregard for transparency.
What makes this delay even more glaring is the fact that some of these states, including Borno, Ogun, Gombe, Sokoto and Kano, have already presented their 2025 budget proposals. Yet, they haven’t accounted for how they performed in the first nine months of 2024.
READ ALSO: TABLE: Imo Bottom As 25 States Fail to Meet Their 2023 Revenue Target
Budget presentation ceremonies, from the publicly available documents, usually include updates on the current year’s performance. State governors often make projections for the consequent fiscal year from the performance as of the third quarter.
For instance, FIJ recently reported how subnationals like Niger and Jigawa made overtly ambitious projections in their 2025 budget proposals, by analysing their underwhelming performances in 2024.
Also beyond violating the fiscal responsibility act, this is in breach of the NITDA guidelines for government websites.
These guidelines mandate that state websites remain active and accessible daily to ensure transparency and public engagement. The state government’s webpage had not worked for more than four hours at press time.
The post 22 Days to Year End, 7 States Hide Q3 Budget Performance Despite Binding Laws appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.