A fundamental principle of good governance requires that those who hold public office should be accountable to the public for their performance. Yet, in many African countries, institutional mechanisms to ensure transparency and accountability are often weak or non-existent. Institutional weaknesses are particularly pronounced in resource-rich countries such as Nigeria. The PFMG program under CSEA will conduct research which assesses the level of transparency and accountability in various African economies beginning with Nigeria. A component of this program will examine the implications of greater transparency and accountability on poverty, and how greater transparency can encourage office holders to target public expenditures at the delivery of public services at the poor.

Improving service delivery by enhancing the quality of public expenditure is a major challenge for the Nigerian public sector both at the federal and state and local levels. Thus, a key 5-year project will be on strengthening institutions to improve public expenditure accountability. Under this project, CSEA will examine public expenditure in three areas of the Nigerian budget: health, education and water sectors.

In an effort to strengthen public finances in Nigeria a fiscal responsibility act (FRA) was introduced in 2007. The FRA, however, covers only the Federal Government while states are not legally bound by it. This reduces its effectiveness considerably. The PFMG program will advocate for the adoption of the FRA by various Nigerian States and also develop modalities for assessing fiscal prudence at the state level.

Some of the output of this program will include:

 - Program budgeting and expenditure analysis in health, education, and water;

 - Incidence analysis of public spending on health, education, and water;

 - Cost effectiveness analysis of public spending on health, education, and water;

 - Implementation of the Fiscal Responsibility Act at the state level: policy and technical issues.