Nigeria’s fiscal year not determined by calendar but by law – BoF
Orisemeke Benjamin
The Federal Government has said delay in quarterly budget reports stems from legal extension of the 2025 budget and ongoing reconciliation process.
In a strongly worded statement, Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Tanimu Yakubu, pushed back against criticism over the delayed release of recent Quarterly Budget Implementation Reports, insisting that Nigeria’s fiscal year is defined by law — not by the January-to-December calendar.
According to him, public debate around the reporting delay had overlooked a basic fiscal reality: a budget year does not automatically end when the calendar does.
“The fiscal year is not necessarily synonymous with the calendar year,” Yakubu said, arguing that the fiscal cycle is a legal construct shaped by appropriation laws, extensions and other legislative actions.
He said the current delay was driven by the repeal and re-enactment of the 2025 Appropriation Act, which was concluded in December 2025, as well as the extension of the 2025 budget’s implementation period to June 2026.
According to him, those changes effectively kept the 2025 budget alive beyond the conventional 12-month cycle and shifted the timetable for reporting.
“In substance and in law, therefore, the fiscal year becomes not merely a chronological concept, but a legislatively sustained expenditure window,” Yakubu said.
The Budget Office said that under Nigeria’s constitutional framework, what matters is not the calendar but legislative approval. Sections 80 and 81 of the 1999 Constitution, it noted, require public withdrawals from the Consolidated Revenue Fund to be backed by law, but do not impose a rigid January-to-December implementation window.
That means when the National Assembly lawfully extends or reenacts expenditure authority, the spending window remains valid until the law says otherwise.
Yakubu also pointed to international practice to bolster the government’s case. In the United States, the federal fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30. In India, it runs from April 1 to March 31. Those examples, he said, show that fiscal years are “policy and legislative constructs” tailored to the realities of public finance and economic management.
The statement also argued that Nigeria is not breaking new ground. During the COVID-19 disruption and other periods of economic strain, several countries extended budget implementation periods to deal with procurement bottlenecks, revenue shocks and unfinished capital projects.
Nigeria, the office said, has repeatedly taken the same route to avoid abandoning ongoing projects, protect contractor cash flow, preserve jobs and maintain fiscal stability.
The Budget Office added that after the 2025 budget adjustments, it began a broad reconciliation process covering revenue performance, expenditure alignment, cash management, debt and financing updates, as well as coordination across multiple government agencies.
That process, it said, was necessary to ensure the quarterly reports are accurate, complete and audit-ready before publication.
“The outstanding Quarterly Budget Implementation Reports are being finalized and will be released in phases over the coming weeks,” Yakubu said.
He added that the office is also upgrading its digital reporting systems, harmonising data processes and tightening institutional coordination to improve the speed and quality of future fiscal reporting.
Despite the controversy, the government said its position remains unchanged: budget transparency and legal compliance must go hand in hand.
“The Federal Government remains firmly committed to the principles of open budgeting, fiscal discipline, transparency, constitutional compliance, and accountable public financial management,” the BoF DG said.
