The Central Bank of Nigeria is moving to strengthen oversight of public finances across the country with a new digital reporting system that will capture revenue, spending and borrowing information from all 36 states, the Federal Capital Territory and 774 local government areas.
The initiative is expected to replace the largely manual system through which subnational governments submit fiscal information, giving policymakers access to more regular and reliable financial data.
Information gathered by Bzzyer from a statement issued by the apex bank on Tuesday showed that the programme forms part of efforts to modernise Nigeriaâs economic data infrastructure and improve the quality of information guiding monetary and fiscal decisions.
The CBN announced the development following a Sub-National Fiscal Statistics Stakeholdersâ Engagement held recently in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
Under the new arrangement, the bank intends to standardise how state and local governments submit financial information while introducing stronger validation procedures, easier submissions and traceable corrections.
The digital platform will also support a transition from the existing twice-yearly survey to more frequent quarterly reporting.
Speaking at the engagement, the Director of the CBNâs Statistics Department, Dr Usman Okpanachi, said the existing manual reporting arrangement had created delays and difficulties involving logistics, data validation and information processing.
He explained that digitalisation would improve the collection and processing of fiscal statistics while strengthening the connection between government financial transactions and national economic policymaking.
According to the CBN, the system will help policymakers monitor government revenue performance, expenditure patterns, financing requirements and emerging fiscal pressures.
Why the new CBN platform matters for states and LGs
The initiative comes as the apex bank strengthens its data-dependent monetary policy framework and moves towards a more explicit inflation-targeting regime.
Reliable information about how governments collect and spend money could give monetary authorities a clearer picture of economic activity across the country.
For instance, increased government spending can influence aggregate demand, liquidity and borrowing conditions, while revenue shortfalls could increase borrowing requirements and put additional pressure on public finances.
However, Nigeriaâs fiscal data challenge goes beyond the technology used to submit reports. Inconsistent accounting practices, incomplete records and delays in reconciling financial transactions have also complicated efforts to obtain accurate information about government finances.
The new platform is expected to address some of these weaknesses by introducing standardised data entry, automated validation and better monitoring of submissions.
Okpanachi cautioned that technology alone would not guarantee accurate reporting, stressing that proper record-keeping, reconciliation and professional judgement must remain central to the process.
He urged state and local governments to submit their financial returns promptly, validate their records and appoint designated officers to coordinate reporting activities.
The director identified timeliness, integrity and continuity as the principles that would determine the programmeâs long-term success.
He added that the CBN would assess the initiative through improvements in the completeness and consistency of fiscal returns, faster submissions, stronger validation and the usefulness of the information for economic decisions.
CBN begins nationwide training for fiscal officers
To prepare participating institutions, the CBN launched a nationwide stakeholder engagement and training exercise on October 26, 2026.
The exercise is scheduled to cover the remaining states by December 4, while training sessions for the FCT are planned for December 9 and 10.
As of November 6, the programme had reached 16 states and their respective local governments, with attendance reaching 100 per cent in almost all the states visited.
During the sessions, fiscal officers receive practical guidance on using the digital questionnaire, meeting validation requirements, submitting financial returns and correcting previously reported information.
The CBN expects participating officers to share the knowledge with colleagues in their respective institutions and commence submissions through the new platform after the training.
The Statistics Department will subsequently consolidate the implementation outcomes into a national report.
The apex bank also pledged continued technical and operational support through its branches and Statistics Department.
Digital reporting raises accountability expectations for subnational governments
Beyond improving economic statistics, the initiative could expose longstanding weaknesses in how some state and local governments document and report public finances.
For Nigeria, where local government financial autonomy and accountability remain important governance issues, consistent fiscal reporting could provide a stronger information base for assessing how public resources move across the three tiers of government.
More frequent reporting could also help identify unusual spending patterns, revenue shortfalls and growing financing pressures earlier than a system that relies on twice-yearly submissions.
However, the platformâs effectiveness will depend heavily on whether participating governments provide complete and verifiable records rather than simply uploading figures to meet reporting deadlines.
The CBNâs ability to obtain accurate information from 36 states, the FCT and 774 local governments will also depend on the quality of financial records maintained at the institutional level.
Ultimately, the digitalisation programme represents an important step towards closing Nigeriaâs subnational fiscal data gap. Its real test, however, will be whether better reporting translates into stronger budget planning, more transparent public spending and better-informed economic decisions.
