2018 Budget: Lagos, Ogun continue to maintain budget secrecy

by Chinedu Brown

Budget transparency has become  a myth in Nigeria, apart from Kaduna and few other states that have cultivated a tradition of open budget, most of the states in Nigeria are fanatically paranoid when it comes to open budget. Budget transparency is in two forms. The first is when the state only make known data about their spending or budget only when request are made from private organization or citizens for such document and the state willingly give out the document, in this situation, the state by itself has no intention to make the document public except when request is made for it. The second is when the state willingly make full details of her budget public. Kaduna state does this on her website.

Only three states are yet to pass their budgets, and they are Bauchi, Osun, Ebonyi. Other states have all passed their budget, yet only few of these states have their budget in the open. Most that have their budget in the open is by the first process. Yet there are three states that are highly notorious for budget secrecy. Lagos, Ogun and Oyo states. Lagos and Ogun particularly blackmail their citizens with projects at humongous cost which are usually not verifiable due to the unavailable of data. Lagos only releases a poorly summarised details of her budget and does not entertain any question from citizens regarding the issue. Osun and Oyo also have a very poor history of budget transparency. And even now, Oyo state budget for 2018 is not in the open.