The Federal Government is set to forfeit $4 million from a World Bank loan due to its inability to meet auditing standards tied to a key revenue reform involving the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).
The forfeited fund is part of the $103 million Fiscal Governance and Institutions Project, a public financial management initiative financed through a credit facility from the International Development Association (IDA).
According to a World Bank restructuring paper dated June 2025, the revenue assurance audit for the FIRS and Customs, covering the 2018 to 2021 financial years, was deemed unsatisfactory. The report submitted by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation failed to meet international auditing standards and was therefore assessed as “not achieved” by the Independent Verification Agent.
“These Intermediate Results to be implemented by the Office of Auditor-General of the Federation were assessed as not achieved by the Independent Verification Agent because the reports submitted for verification did not meet the requisite international auditing standards,” the document stated.
The failed audit is one of ten performance-based conditions that the Federal Government was required to meet under the project. However, with the project scheduled to close on June 30, 2025, those conditions remain unmet.
As a result, the Federal Ministry of Finance has formally requested the cancellation of $10.4 million in project funds—$0.9 million in unused technical assistance funds and $9.5 million allocated to the unfulfilled performance-based conditions.
