The Federal Government is expected to lose $4 million from a World Bank loan after failing to meet auditing standards on key revenue reforms affecting the Federal Inland Revenue Service(FIRS) and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).
The fund formed part of the $103 million Fiscal Governance and Institutions Project, a public financial management initiative financed through a credit facility from the International Development Association (IDA).
According to the World Bank’s restructuring paper dated June 2025, the revenue assurance audit covering the FIRS and Customs from the 2018 to 2021 financial years was assessed as not achieved because the reports submitted did not meet international auditing standards.
“Revenue assurance audit of Main Income Generating Agencies, including the Federal Inland Revenue Service and the Nigeria Customs Service for FY 2018 – 2021, with an allocation of $ 4 million.
“These intermediate results to be implemented by the Office of Auditor-General of the Federation were assessed as not achieved by the Independent Verification Agent because the reports submitted for verification did not meet the requisite international auditing standards,” the document stated.
The ICIR reports that the failed audit was one of the 10 performance-based conditions under the project that the government could not deliver before the closing date of June 30, 2025. As a result, the Federal Ministry of Finance(FMF) formally requested the cancellation of $10.4 million in project funds.
“The FMF has requested cancellation of $0.9m of unused funds for Technical Assistance and $9.5 million, which is the amount allocated to 10 Performance-Based Conditions, which will not be achieved by the close of the Project on June 30, 2025,” part of the document reads.
The breakdown further shows that $ 4.5 million was tied to the uncompleted Revenue Assurance and Billing System, while $ 1 million was allocated to the development of a National Budget Portal.
According to the document, the Budget Office of the Federation, responsible for the portal, did not submit any evidence of achievement. In addition, $0.9 million in technical assistance funding was left uncommitted and has also been cancelled.
The document further reads, “The proposed change is to cancel the $10.4 million, constituting $9.5 million for PBCs that will not be achieved and verified by the closing date, and $0.9 million uncommitted funds from the technical assistance component.”
This latest adjustment follows an earlier restructuring in June 2024, when $ 22 million was dropped from the original $ 125 million envelope, bringing the project down to $ 103 million. With the new cancellation, the total funding now stands at $92.6 million.
The Fiscal Governance and Institutions Project, approved in June 2018 and effective from May 2019, was designed to improve the credibility of public finance and national statistics through reforms in revenue administration, budget transparency, and data systems.
Although the government missed key targets, the project recorded progress in other areas, including revenue performance. According to the World Bank, non-oil revenue was 153 per cent of the budgeted target in 2024, up from a baseline of 64.9 per cent in 2018.
The bank attributed the increase to the unification of Nigeria’s exchange rate, improved tax administration via the TaxProMax system, and reforms that automated revenue remittances from ministries and agencies.
Other areas of progress include the launch of the Electronic Register of Beneficial Owners by the Corporate Affairs Commission, which now covers about 40 per cent of registered businesses, and the publication of a National Asset Registry and financial reports by the Ministry of Finance Incorporated.
The final disbursement on the project is projected at $96.04 million, which represents 93 per cent of the pre-cancellation total of $103 million.
The ICIR reported an earlier prediction by the World Bank, which projected that poverty in Nigeria would increase by 3.6 percentage points by 2027.
This projection is from the World Bank’s Africa Pulse report, released during the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Washington, DC.
The report paints a troubling outlook for poverty reduction in Nigeria, highlighting that despite some recent gains in economic activity, particularly in the non-oil sector during the last quarter of 2024, structural issues related to resource dependence and national fragility were likely to hinder progress.
On the heels of these concerns, the $4 million loss, some analysts say, is a huge indictment of the much-touted economic reforms of the President Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government, with growing concerns over rising debts and burdensome taxes on Nigerians.
“This is a time we should be getting all the goodwill we need to fund developmental projects and grow the economy. We cannot afford to be losing concessionary funds at this stage,” a development economist, Celestine Okeke, told The ICIR.
Harrison Edeh is a journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, always determined to drive advocacy for good governance through holding public officials and businesses accountable.