GOVERNMENT FINANCIAL REPORTING AND PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY IN NIGERIA

This paper examined Fiscal accountability. Managerial accountability. Programme accountability, and Individual accountability within the context of the role of government financial reporting in public accountability in Nigeria. Personal interview and Accountability Evaluation Questionnaires were used as research instruments. Descriptive statistics were employed in analyzing the data. The paper revealed that the effective implementation of development policies and programmes is anchored on purity of action, honesty of purpose, probity and integrity, which are important hallmarks of accountability and transparency. Financial reporting is the best index of accountability. However, accountability and transparency in the Nigeria leaves a lot of room for improvement. The accountability and control apparatus in the public service has some minimum technical components that should elicit tolerable standards of accountability and transparency. There are reasonable regulations, adequate albeit outdated accounting procedures, stringent sanctions and financial auditing. The major problem however, is with the human component indices of commitment, honesty, integrity and transparency. The apparatus for managerial and programme accountability are either weak or non-existent. Consequently, the quality of the financial statements should be improved, the system should create room to inculcate both managerial and programme accountability apparatus. The human component-individual accountability should be serious!v considered