The All Progressives Congress and opposition parties on Wednesday clashed over President Bola Tinubu’s claim that Nigeria has already achieved its 2025 revenue target.
While the APC insisted that the President has placed Nigeria on the path of economic recovery, the African Democratic Congress, Labour Party, New Nigeria Peoples Party and the Coalition of United Political Parties accused Tinubu of celebrating statistics while citizens struggle under severe economic hardship.
Also, economists expressed scepticism about the President’s assertion that the Federal Government had stopped borrowing locally, as they called for clarification from the managers of the economy.
The experts pointed to the continuous debt market operations by the Debt Management Office and the Central Bank of Nigeria, questioning the president’s assertion and its alignment with the current economic realities.
For years, Nigeria has depended heavily on crude oil, which accounts for about 70 per cent of government revenue and over 90 per cent of foreign exchange earnings.
Successive administrations have repeatedly promised to diversify the economy, yet oil has remained the main source of revenue.
In 2023, upon assuming office, President Tinubu launched a series of reforms aimed at repositioning the economy.
One of his most significant steps was the removal of fuel subsidy, a policy that has since triggered severe economic hardship. The removal pushed up transport costs, worsened food inflation, fuelled a foreign exchange crisis, and deepened the overall cost-of-living burden for millions of Nigerians, while freeing more revenues for the government.
Although federal allocations to states have increased under Tinubu’s administration, the impact has not been felt at the grassroots level.
Poverty, insecurity, and other social vices have continued to escalate, forcing many Nigerians to seek greener pastures abroad.
While the reforms have delivered some marginal gains, the weight of hardship on ordinary citizens remains overwhelming.
However, on Tuesday, Tinubu announced at the Presidential Villa that the country had hit its 2025 revenue projection in August, attributing the feat to gains from the non-oil sector.
According to his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the President disclosed this while receiving the founding members of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change and The Buhari Organisation, led by former Nasarawa State governor, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura.
“The economy is now stabilised. Nobody is trading pieces of paper for foreign exchange anymore. The economy is now predictable. You do not need to know the CBN Governor, Yemi Cardoso, to obtain foreign exchange or import goods,” Tinubu said.
The President highlighted the significant growth in non-oil revenues accruing to the Federation, federal, state, and local governments. From January to August 2025, total collections reached N20.59 trillion, a 40.5 per cent increase from N14.6 trillion recorded in 2024. This strong performance aligns with projections, placing the government firmly on course to achieve its annual non-oil revenue target,’’ the statement added.
According to the statement, the President also said that the Federal Government is no longer borrowing from local banks to buttress the strong fiscal performance since the start of the year.
TInubu, who linked the development to his economic reforms, promised that his Renewed Hope Agenda would continue to prioritise infrastructure renewal, healthcare, food sovereignty, and security.
The ruling APC backed Tinubu’s declaration that Nigeria had hit its planned revenue target in August.
He said, “We support the President because if the target revenue for the year has been met in August, it then shows that the budget is capable of implementation. It means that what is set in the agenda of the budget will be implemented and that the government would not, as had been the case before, borrow money to be able to fulfil the budget of 2025.
“And then that eases pressure on the part of the government to now begin to have money to deliver the infrastructural development that it had targeted in the course of the year.”
Duru insisted the government’s achievement would have a spiralling effect on the economy.
“It will have a trickle-down effect on all borrowings. So the government would not be under any pressure. It also shows that the government can fund and finance the relevant projects that it needs to address the infrastructure deficit in the country, including overhead costs, which has been the major issue in the country,” he stated.
On the perception that the current administration may still have its eyes set on bonds and other loans from the IMF, the APC chieftain argued that it was a figment of the imagination of critics.
The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Policy Communication, Daniel Bwala, challenged critics of the President’s assertion on meeting the government’s revenue target and not borrowing locally to provide contrary facts.
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