The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) has issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the Director General of the Budget Office of the Federation (BOF) to upload the assented 2026 federal budget to the official website, condemning the continued secrecy surrounding the nation’s public expenditure details.
In a media statement released on Sunday, May 4, 2026, the Nigerian knowledge institution expressed regret over what it described as the deliberate and continued violation of Nigerians’ constitutional and statutory right to information on public resource allocation and management.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had signed and assented to the 2026 federal budget on April 17, 2026. However, seventeen days later, the approved budget has not been uploaded to the BOF website or any other public electronic portal of the Federal Government.
“A review of the budget segment of the website of the Budget Office of the Federation which normally hosts the federal budget reveals that it has not been uploaded to the website,” the statement read.
The CSJ noted that this delay continues a troubling pattern, recalling that the executive budget proposal presented by the President to the National Assembly on December 19, 2025, was only uploaded to the website on January 8, 2026 — twenty days after presentation.
“We are aware that uploading a soft copy of the approved budget to the website of the BOF is an exercise that will not take up to twenty minutes.
So, what exactly is responsible for the delay?” the statement queried, raising concerns about whether the budget was still being reviewed and altered after legislative approval, similar to the controversial Tax Bills.
The Lead Director of CSJ, Eze Onyekpere, emphasised that the delay constitutes a gross dereliction of duties by the BOF and the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning.
He further noted that seventeen days after presidential assent, the BOF, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, and the Coordinating Minister for the Economy have not deemed it necessary to hold a budget briefing or breakdown session with Nigerians.
CSJ invoked section 48 of relevant statutes, which states: “The Federal Government shall ensure that its fiscal and financial affairs are conducted in a transparent manner and accordingly ensure full and timely disclosure and wide publication of all transactions and decisions involving public revenues and expenditures and their implications for its finances.
“The organisation argued that the deliberate refusal to perform this statutory duty runs contrary to the Freedom of Information Act and the constitutional objective of public participation in fiscal governance, noting that no one can participate or make informed contributions without the requisite information.
“CSJ therefore demands that the Director General of the BOF takes action to upload the assented 2026 federal budget to the website of the Office within 48 hours of this media statement.
This is not a request for a favour. It is a demand for the performance of a constitutional and statutory duty,” Onyekpere declared.
If the BOF leadership is unwilling or unable to perform this duty, CSJ stated that resignation is the most reasonable option, insisting that no one is entitled to be paid at taxpayers’ expense while failing to perform the functions of their office.
The organisation also demanded that the BOF, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, and the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy urgently hold a 2026 federal budget briefing, describing it as a tradition established over years of fiscal governance reforms to improve transparency and accountability in public finance management.
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