Opposition Queries Tinubu’s Admin Revenue Growth Claims
…Questions Why FG Is Still Borrowing If It Met Revenue Target
…Says 5% Petrol Tax Cruel, Will Compound Misery Of Nigerians
…Obi Criticises FG Over Protesting Ex-Soldiers, Retired Public Servants
THE opposition on Thursday queried President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration claim of revenue growth of ₦20.59 trillion accruing into the federation account from non-oil sources between January to August 2025.
President Tinubu had said the economy has stabilised and the revenue target set for this year has been met since last month.
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) punctured the self-congratulatory claims by President Bola Tinubu, accusing his administration of deceiving Nigerians with false revenue claims, and describing the 5% petrol tax as cruel and insensitive.
The party cited a ₦21.22 trillion shortfall between the 2025 budget projection and actual collections, despite the government’s claim of meeting revenue targets.
Condemning the new 5% petrol tax and the 300% hike in passport fees, the ADC described them as cruel policies that punish struggling Nigerians and push more people into poverty, while the government celebrates revenue collection.
ADC, in a statement by its spokesman, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, questioned why the government continues to borrow despite its claims of record revenue.
The party said that while President Tinubu and his government parade statistics and issue grand statements, the reality on the streets tells a story of hardship and suffering across the country.
“Nigerians will recall that when the 2025 budget was passed, it projected a total revenue of ₦41.81 trillion. Yet today, the Federal Government is celebrating the mobilisation of ₦20.59 trillion, leaving a gaping shortfall of ₦21.22 trillion. Put in perspective, this would mean an average revenue of ₦3.48 trillion per month, totaling ₦27.87 trillion for the first eight months of the year. Is the government then claiming to have surpassed ₦27.87 trillion, or, even more incredulously, the full ₦41.81 trillion projection already? These figures simply do not add up.
“Even more troubling is the fact that not all the revenue in question flows to the Federal Government. The Federal Government only receives 52.68% of statutory revenue, while its share of VAT is just 15%. So, even by the most optimistic assumptions, the numbers being paraded are unrealistic. When measured on a pro-rata basis for January to August or against the full-year target, the shortfall becomes even more glaring. This exposes the hollowness of the claims by government and also reveals these so-called revenue achievements for what they truly are, another act in the APC and President Tinubu’s propaganda performance.
“The president also made laughable statements about the exchange rate, claiming that when he took office on 29 May 2023, the dollar-to-naira rate was ₦1,900 to a dollar, and that it is now ₦1,450. This is patently false.
“A simple Google search will show that on the morning President Tinubu was sworn in, the naira traded at approximately ₦460.72 to the US dollar, and between ₦700 and ₦800 in the parallel market. The reality is that under President Tinubu’s watch, the naira has lost more than 50% of its value, wiping out savings and leaving ordinary Nigerians to bear the brunt through skyrocketing food prices, soaring rents, and suffocating transport costs,” ADC said.
The party said that another false claim by President Tinubu is that the government has stopped local borrowing, adding that “only a few days ago, on 26 August 2025, the Debt Management Office announced that it raised ₦136.16 billion through a Federal Government bond auction. This is apart from the $21 billion loan hurriedly approved by the National Assembly in July without any details of its purpose, bringing the national debt stock to $120 billion or ₦180 trillion, the highest in Nigeria’s history. The question to ask is: if revenues are truly being met, why is this government still borrowing? The answer is simple, the revenue narrative is built on falsehood.
“One thing is clear to all Nigerians: instead of improving lives, this government has chosen to punish the very people it was elected to serve through policy choices that allow it to claim economic progress while condemning the majority to abject poverty.
“For avoidance of doubt, despite all claims of economic stability, Nigeria remains the poverty capital of the world. This fact alone should humble any serious government. Instead, the Tinubu administration has chosen to compound the misery, as evidenced by the recently introduced 5% petrol tax.”
The party further said: “The ADC finds this tax cruel and deeply insensitive at a time when the majority of Nigerians are still reeling from the effects of fuel subsidy removal. Regardless of the economic motives behind this tax, what is clear is that this government simply does not care about the people. The least Nigerians deserve are interventions to mitigate the impact of subsidy removal, not an additional tax that will further burden them.”
Obi Flares FG On 5% Fuel Tax, Protests By Retired Public Servants
Meanwhile, Peter Obi, Labour Party’s (LP) 2023 presidential candidate, has called for a halt to the proposed 5% tax on all refined fossil fuel, including petrol and diesel sold in the domestic market.
Obi, on Thursday on his X handle, asked the government to “wait until Nigerians begin to see tangible improvements in their lives from all the many promises from Mr. President.”
He said the policy is coming at a time when millions of Nigerians can hardly afford the cost of transportation, adding that “Mr. President just yesterday boasted that Nigeria has met its revenue target for the year. Yet instead of easing hardship, the government imposes more burden on Nigerians.”
The former Anambra State governor explained that “leadership is not about giving a burden, it is about reducing suffering, it is about care and compassion.”
“Even the so-called alternative, CNG, has become unaffordable, rising from about ₦230 to ₦450, while the promised subsidies on the CNG have quietly vanished,” he stressed.
The 2023 presidential candidate who has pledged to contest the upcoming 2027 poll queried President Bola Tinubu`s recent boast that his government has stabilised the country`s economy, with revenues becoming “excessive.”
According to Obi, “If our revenues are truly ‘excessive’ as claimed, should they not first be used to fund education, healthcare and pulling Nigerians out of poverty? Why tax citizens who cannot even breathe anymore?”
In a related development, he criticised the Federal Government for not addressing recurrent protests by retired civil servants and former service personnel over unpaid pensions and gratuities.
Obi described the situation “shameful,” as he condemned what he described as “begging for what is rightfully theirs, even after the government boasts of excess revenue,” by those who built this nation with their sweat, those who defended it with their lives, and those who have fulfilled their contractual obligations.
These later remarks were captured in his publication on X, also on Thursday, which stated, “Having met our revenue target for the year ahead of schedule, we should show sensitivity and compassion to the suffering masses by deploying resources to critical areas that will help to create jobs to alleviate the people’s hardships.
“For instance, critical economic players and their associated institutions are undergoing a serious dearth of funds, and their effect is showing in areas they support, like SMEs. Some of them are even protesting as they cannot meet their banks’ and staff needs.
“Why are retired public servants, including service men and women who have risked their lives for the nation, still protesting over unpaid gratuities and pensions?
“Achieving revenue targets means nothing if it does not impact the lives of the people, if those who serve and build the nation are left with unpaid entitlements in their difficult years, and those who have genuinely fulfilled their contractual obligations, most of whom are SMES with one form of debt or the other are still unpaid.
“Our nation must not continue to throw its citizens into debt and despair. It is time for our government to act responsibly and with integrity.”
