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By Daniel Adaji
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) and the Debt Management Office (DMO) to deepen their collaboration to better manage Nigeria’s fiscal risks.
This was the focus of a high-level bilateral meeting on Monday when the FRC hosted officials of the DMO and an IMF mission to review Nigeria’s progress in identifying and mitigating fiscal vulnerabilities.
The IMF delegation, led by Sybi Hida, Senior Economist in the Fiscal Affairs Department, was received by the Special Adviser to the Executive Chairman of FRC, Dr. Chris Uwadoka, and the Director of Legal, Investigation & Enforcement, Mr. Charles Chukwuemeka Abana.
Hida said the Fund’s mission was to assess how far the FRC had gone in tracking and managing fiscal exposures. He stressed the need for openness and stronger institutional cooperation, noting that effective oversight of fiscal risks is essential for accountability and good governance.
During a technical session, Mrs. Rachael Angbazo delivered a presentation titled “The Role of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission in Monitoring Fiscal Risks,” where she outlined the major pressures affecting the economy.
She listed macroeconomic risks such as oil-sector instability, inflation, exchange-rate volatility and rising interest rates; governance and institutional weaknesses, including poor compliance with the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) 2007; and contingent liabilities from government guarantees, PPP commitments and judgement debts. She also cited environmental, security and social risks ranging from flooding and insecurity including Boko Haram, banditry and other forms of criminality, to public-health threats like Lassa Fever.
Angbazo highlighted the Commission’s mandate to promote transparency, enforce fiscal rules, support forecasting processes and strengthen the credibility of fiscal information available to policymakers and citizens. She referenced key FRA provisions guiding fiscal-risk management, including MTEF requirements (Section 11), deficit limits (Section 12) and reporting obligations (Section 19).
The IMF team was also briefed on ongoing FRC initiatives such as monitoring the implementation of the MTEF and annual federal budget, supporting states to domesticate fiscal-responsibility legislation, collaborating with the National Assembly on revenue hearings, and tracking government borrowing for compliance with the FRA. Other efforts include nationwide verification of capital projects, enforcement of audited-account disclosure by government-owned enterprises and MDAs, and sensitisation programmes to improve compliance.
Despite the progress, the meeting acknowledged continued challenges, including funding and capacity gaps that limit advanced fiscal-risk modelling, inconsistent reporting by MDAs and GOEs, and limited financial and institutional independence for the Commission.
To strengthen the process, participants recommended amendments to the FRA to introduce sanctions and grant prosecutorial powers to the FRC, clarify Section 12(2) to prevent misuse under emergency claims, and boost internal capacity for scenario testing and risk analysis. They also called for stronger inter-agency coordination and the institutionalisation of comprehensive fiscal-risk reporting.
In his closing remarks, Hida urged the Commission to pay greater attention to legal and capacity-related risks. He reaffirmed the IMF’s commitment to supporting Nigeria’s efforts to improve fiscal-risk management and emphasized the need for honest disclosure of fiscal vulnerabilities.
The DMO delegation, represented by Deputy Director Bartholomew Aja and Salisu Ahmed, underscored the importance of integrating the FRC into future Debt Sustainability Analysis processes and pledged closer cooperation.