Civil society organisation, Paradigm Leadership Support Initiative (PLSI), focused on public accountability, has raised concerns over the continued implementation of Nigeria’s federal budget without a dedicated audit law, saying the gap weakens the country’s public financial accountability system.
The organisation expressed concerns that the Federal Government was implementing a N68 trillion budget in 2026 without an audit law, 10 years after it began its advocacy for stronger public audit systems when the federal government was implementing a N6 trillion budget.
PLSI said the persistence of the legal gap there remains a significant gap in public accountability highlights the need to institutionalise public accountability mechanisms capable of providing stronger fiscal safeguards, ensuring consequences for financial breaches and improving public service delivery.
The organisation made the call as it marked its 10th anniversary on Wednesday, and renewed its call for the passage of a Federal Audit Law that would empower Nigeria’s Supreme Audit Institution, the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committees and other accountability institutions to safeguard public resources and improve service delivery.
It called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to act on the Federal Audit Service Bill and provide the country with what it described as a modern legal framework for public auditing.
The PLSI noted that the 2024 Federal Audit Report on Non-Compliance/Internal Control Weaknesses in Ministries, Departments and Agencies identified more than N1.39 trillion in financial irregularities and control failures across federal institutions. It said the findings included unsupported payments, unremitted revenues, irregular contracts and other weaknesses in internal controls.
PLSI said the challenge was no longer only about identifying financial irregularities but about building an audit system that consistently delivers fiscal guardrails, recovery, consequences and institutional reform.
‘There remains a significant gap in public accountability’, the Organisation stated.
At the subnational level, PLSI said accountability remained weak, with only five of Nigeria’s 36 states having implemented financial autonomy for their Offices of the Auditor-General, while 12 states had established administrative independence for the offices.
It added that 18 states failed to publish audit reports on state accounts in the 2024 financial year, while 21 states did not publish reports on local government accounts.
The organisation said only three states produced standard performance audit reports on government programmes, projects or policies, although this represented an improvement from 2023, when no state conducted such audits.
PLSI said performance auditing should become a major focus of accountability at national and subnational levels, allowing citizens and government institutions to assess not only whether public resources were properly spent but whether they achieved the results for which they were allocated.
It also called on state audit offices to move from compliance-focused audits to routine performance and value-for-money audits covering sectors including health, education, infrastructure, gender and climate.
The organisation urged Public Accounts Committees to strengthen oversight by ensuring timely review of audit reports and enforcing audit recommendations, noting that only three of the 36 states currently have effective Public Accounts Committees, according to its 2025 Subnational Audit Efficacy Index.
PLSI said there had been some progress in public financial transparency, with 18 states publishing Citizens’ Accountability Reports in 2024, compared with 11 in 2023 and eight in 2022. It, however, said the gains needed to translate into tangible improvements in service delivery, equitable resource allocation and the everyday lives of citizens.
PLSI said the next decade of accountability reform must focus on strengthening the connection between public resources and public outcomes, institutions and consequences, and elections and governance.
It also called for greater scrutiny of political candidates ahead of the 2027 general elections, urging candidates seeking public office to present costed manifestos showing what they intend to achieve, how they would achieve it, how much their plans would cost and how they would be financed.
The organisation urged citizens to reject vote buying, vote selling, intimidation, violence, disinformation and divisive politics, while calling on political parties and candidates to place issues, policies and development outcomes at the centre of their campaigns.
As it marks its anniversary, the organisation described it as a time of recommitment. ‘We will continue to challenge the status quo, strengthen institutions, produce evidence, equip citizens and advocate for reforms that
make accountability consequential’, it stated.