Distinguished members of the press, partners, colleagues, and fellow Nigerians,
Tomorrow, October 1, 2026, the Paradigm Leadership Support Initiative (PLSI) marks ten remarkable years of fostering accountability, improving public financial management, empowering citizens, and advancing governance that delivers inclusive development outcomes to Nigerians.
Ten years is a moment to celebrate. But for us, it is also a moment to look back at what was missing when we began, what has changed, what remains unfinished, and what the next decade must demand.
PLSI was born out of concern.
In 2015, as Nigeria entered a new political chapter, the country was already confronting significant economic and institutional pressures. The change in political leadership and the inauguration of the 8th National Assembly coincided with a period of slowing economic growth, rising fiscal pressures, and persistent concerns about the strength of public institutions.
The warning signs were visible. Nigeria’s real GDP growth had fallen from an average of about 7% between 2000 and 2014 to 2.7% in 2015, before the economy contracted by 1.6% in 2016. On the corruption front, Nigeria scored 27/100 and ranked 136th of 175 countries in the 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index. By 2022, the score had declined to 24/100, ranking 150th of 180 countries. Inflation, which was around 9% in 2015, had reached 22.41% by May 2023. Public debt also increased substantially during this period, with the Debt Management Office recording separate debt-stock publications for June 2015 and March 2023. While current macro-economic realities have shifted positively, there remains a significant gap in public accountability and welfare of citizens. These twin issues were paramount in 2016 when PLSI was founded, and they still matter to us today. Our concern has simply not been about the numbers but about the institutions behind them: the institutions responsible for managing public resources, scrutinising government decisions, exercising oversight, and ensuring that public resources translate into better and inclusive outcomes for citizens. That concern gave birth to PLSI.
When our work began in 2016, Nigeria’s public audit ecosystem faced a fundamental transparency problem. Audit reports produced by public institutions were often inaccessible to citizens whose resources they scrutinised. There was no single audit report on the account of the federal or state government in public domain. This prompted PLSI to challenge the system and pursue legal action that contributed to the publication of federal audit reports dating back to 1999.
Today, the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation maintains a public portal through which federal audit reports are accessible, including the 2024 Annual Report on Non-Compliance and Internal Control Weaknesses in MDAs, published in 2026. The reports are not yet published within globally acceptable timelines, but the movement from opacity towards public access is significant.
At subnational level, PLSI’s flagship Subnational Audit Efficacy (SAE) Index has, year after year, assessed the state of audit effectiveness and used evidence to advocate for reform. The latest SAE Index 2025, based on the 2024 financial year, shows that 18 of Nigeria’s 36 states published audit reports on state accounts, while 15 local-government audit institutions published audit reports.
The SAE Index 2025 also revealed that five states have implemented financial autonomy for Office of the Auditors-General, while 12 states have established administrative independence. These reforms were not inevitable. They represent the cumulative outcome of continued policy advocacy, institutional engagement, and sustained pressure for stronger public audit systems.
Over the years, PLSI has invested in research, institutional strengthening, citizen engagement, policy advocacy, and civic technology. From building Nigeria’s largest civic-led convening of oversight institutions through the annual Subnational Audit Efficacy (SAE) Index research report, to pioneering the annual Nigeria Accountability Summit (NAS); from engaging with Nigeria’s 74 audit institutions to convening the Women in Public Sector Audit in Nigeria (WiPSA) Leadership Dialogue; and from developing groundbreaking civic-tech solutions including Value for Money, Resource Benefits, Policy Tracker, ÀDÉHÙN-Electoral Accountability Tool, and the Emissions Monitoring and Accountability Tool (EMAT), to advancing governance reforms in Nigeria, Africa and beyond – our focus has remained moving accountability from a principle on paper to a practice that improves the lives of citizens.
THE NEED FOR A FEDERAL AUDIT LAW
One of PLSI’s proudest impacts over the past decade has been seeing our long-standing advocacy for public audit reform contribute to tangible institutional change. In July 2025, for the first time in 26 years, the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives completed the audit cycle, with the House adopting findings that indicted 31 MDAs for over ₦103.8 billion and $950,912 in financial infractions.
While we celebrate this improvement; there remains a significant gap in public accountability. In 2016 when PLSI commenced operation, the federal government implemented ₦6trn budget without an audit law and ten years after in 2026, the federal government is implementing ₦68trn budget still without an audit law. The 2024 Federal Audit Report on Non-Compliance/Internal Control Weaknesses in MDAs identified over ₦1.39 trillion in financial irregularities and control failures, including unsupported payments, unremitted revenues, irregular contracts and other weaknesses across federal institutions. The greater challenge today is how to institutionalise public accountability that ensures Nigeria’s audit system consistently produces fiscal guardrails, recovery, consequences, reform and effective services to citizens.
On this 10th anniversary, PLSI is renewing its demand for a Federal Audit Law that empowers Nigeria’s Supreme Audit Institution, the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committees and other accountability actors to safeguard public resources and enhance delivery of services to citizens. On this note, we call on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR to act on the Federal Audit Service Bill and give Nigeria the modern audit legal framework it urgently requires.
IMPROVED SERVICES TO CITIZENS: THE CASE FOR PERFORMANCE AUDITING
As we look towards the next decade, we are concerned about the relationship between accountability and everyday experiences of Nigerians. Citizens do not experience governance through audit reports, budget documents or policy statements alone. They experience it through the quality of the schools their children attend, the hospitals they rely on, the roads they travel, the water they have access to, the security they receive, the jobs and opportunities available to them, and the quality of public services delivered in their communities.
This is why PLSI believes Nigeria must move decisively from compliance to performance. Performance auditing must become the new frontier of accountability at national and subnational levels.
To date, only three subnational governments in Nigeria have conducted performance audits. This is a significant accountability gap in a country where state and local governments manage substantial public resources and deliver critical services to citizens.
We believe this must now go beyond a few pioneering states. PLSI calls on all federal, state and local government audit institutions to continue conducting and publishing credible performance audits on public programmes, projects and policies. Citizens deserve to know not only whether public resources were properly spent, but whether they achieved the results for which they were allocated.
AHEAD OF THE 2027 GENERAL ELECTIONS
Nigeria is also entering another critical electoral cycle. The 2027 Presidential and National Assembly elections are currently scheduled for January 16, 2027, while the Governorship and State House of Assembly elections are scheduled for February 6, 2027.
As the country moves towards these elections, PLSI calls for a deliberate shift in the way Nigerians engage with politics. Elections should not be reduced to personality, party loyalty, ethnicity, religion, popularity, or short-term inducements. Citizens deserve to know: What candidates are promising? What problems are they seeking to solve? How will they solve them? How much will their plans cost? How will those plans be financed? And how will citizens measure delivery?
A candidate seeking the mandate to govern should be prepared to present citizens with a COSTED MANIFESTO. Through ÀDÉHÙN, our Electoral Accountability Tool, PLSI will continue to support citizens to access information, interrogate candidates and commitments, and make more informed electoral choices ahead of 2027. But informed voting must also be accompanied by responsible citizenship. We call on citizens to reject violence, vote buying, vote selling, intimidation, disinformation, and the politics of division. We call on political parties and candidates to place issues, policies and development outcomes at the centre of their campaigns. And we call on institutions responsible for managing and securing elections to uphold professionalism, impartiality and the rule of law. The quality of Nigeria’s democracy will ultimately depend not only on the quality of our elections, but on the quality of governance that follows them.
THE NEXT DECADE
As PLSI celebrates ten years, we do so with gratitude to our board members, past and present staff members, donors, partners, public institutions, civil society organisations, media, communities and citizens who have supported and challenged us throughout this journey.
We also celebrate with a sense of responsibility. The next decade must be about deepening connection between public resources & public outcomes; institutions & consequences; elections & governance; as well as citizens and the decisions that affect their lives. We believe Nigeria has the institutions, talent, resources and civic energy to build a stronger accountability ecosystem. What is required is sustained political will, stronger institutions, better evidence, meaningful citizen participation and the courage to reform systems that are no longer fit for purpose.
Our anniversary is therefore not a full stop. It is a recommitment. We will continue to challenge the status quo, strengthen institutions, produce evidence, equip citizens and advocate for reforms that make accountability consequential. Happy 10th anniversary to the Paradigm Leadership Support Initiative (PLSI) and Happy 66th Independence Celebration to the Federal Republic of Nigeria.