The Budget Office of the Federation has defended the delay in publishing three outstanding Quarterly Budget Implementation Reports, saying the situation arose from the repeal and re-enactment of the 2025 Appropriation Act and the subsequent extension of the budget’s implementation period to June 2026.
The last publication on the budget office’s website is Q3 2025, a development that breaks the Fiscal Responsibility Act amid the country’s rising borrowing costs and mounting fiscal pressure.
In a clarification statement, the DG of the Budget Office, Mr Tanimu Yakubu, said public concerns over the absence of the reports must be understood within the constitutional and fiscal framework governing public finance administration in Nigeria, stressing that a fiscal year is not strictly tied to the January–December calendar, but is instead a legislative construct defined by appropriation laws passed by the National Assembly.
“The fiscal year is not necessarily synonymous with the calendar year. The calendar year is a fixed chronological construct of twelve months running from January to December.
“The fiscal year, however, is a juridical and legislative creation whose duration, commencement, and terminal date are determined by the extant appropriation framework enacted by law,” he said.
Mr Yakubu claimed that the recent reporting delay followed the Repeal and Re-enactment of the 2025 Appropriation Act concluded in December 2025, alongside an extension of the budget’s execution period.
These changes, he said, effectively altered the operational timeline for fiscal reporting and necessitated comprehensive reconciliations before publication of the affected quarterly reports.
“In substance and in law, therefore, the fiscal year becomes not merely a chronological concept, but a legislatively sustained expenditure window,” he explained.
The Budget Office further noted that Nigeria’s fiscal practice has historically accommodated adjustments such as supplementary budgets, rollover provisions, and implementation extensions, particularly for capital projects, to ensure continuity and prevent wastage of public resources.
It added that similar practices exist in other jurisdictions, where fiscal years are defined by law rather than fixed to the calendar year.
Citing constitutional provisions, the office referenced Sections 80 and 81 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which require that public expenditure be backed by appropriation laws rather than a rigid annual cycle. It maintained that as long as legislative authority exists, expenditure remains valid within the approved framework.
The DG also pointed to judicial precedents underscoring the supremacy of the National Assembly in public finance matters, noting that executive spending must align with statutory approval.
He also explained that the current reconciliation process involves revenue performance reviews, cash flow adjustments, debt analysis, and inter-agency coordination to ensure accuracy and audit integrity of the outstanding reports.
Mr Yakubu then assured that the missing quarterly reports are being finalised and will be released in phases in the coming weeks, adding that reforms are underway to strengthen digital reporting systems and improve transparency and timeliness in fiscal data publication.
In his words, “Accordingly, the outstanding Quarterly Budget Implementation Reports are being finalised and will be released in phases over the coming weeks.
“In parallel, the Budget Office is strengthening its digital reporting architecture, data harmonisation systems, and institutional coordination mechanisms to support more comprehensive, timely, and analytically robust fiscal reporting in line with evolving international public finance reporting standards.”