CISLAC, BudgIT, others demand transparency in budget implementation

Some leading Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) in Nigeria have condemned what they termed “fiscal rascality” by the President Bola Tinubu administration, calling for transparency in government expenditure.

The NGOs are the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), PLSI, BudgIT and PRIMORG.

“We, the undersigned civil society organisations, express grave concern over the recent constitutional breaches in the repeal and re-enactment of the 2024 and 2025 Appropriation Acts carried out by a collaboration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the National Assembly (“NASS”).

“We are also concerned about the opacity, lack of transparency and popular participation in the federal budgeting process, to the extent that eighteen days after the presentation of the federal executive budget, the Budget Office of the Federation (BOF) and the NASS have failed, refused and neglected to upload same to their websites.

“Furthermore, the 2024 and 2025 Appropriation Acts (Repeal and Re-enactment) bills, which have been approved by NASS, are not available to Nigerians on any electronic portal, and there was no opportunity for popular participation in the consideration and re-enactment of these Acts,” they said in a statement they jointly signed on Tuesday.

They said these breaches raise fundamental questions about the management of public revenues and expenditure and the responsiveness of the executive and legislature to the fiscal stipulations of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended (“Constitution”) and the Fiscal Responsibility Act.

They, therefore, demanded that the NASS should ensure that there is no expenditure without appropriation, as unbudgeted expenditure not incurred in accordance with constitutional stipulations is an impeachable offence.

The NGOs also demanded “An unconditional guarantee by the President to abide by constitutional stipulations of spending only what has been appropriated, the immediate publication of the 2026 federal budget estimates on the website of the BOF and NASS, the immediate publication of the 2024 and 2025 Appropriation Act (Repeal and Re-enactment) Bills and the 2024 and 2025 Appropriation Act (Repeal and Re-enactment) Acts on the website of the BOF and NASS and a commitment to fiscal transparency.

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