The All Progressives Congress (APC) 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 (ADC), Labour Party, New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) accused Tinubu of celebrating statistics while citizens struggle under severe economic hardship.
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.
The Deputy National Organising Secretary, Nze Chidi Duru, 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.
But the opposition parties faulted the celebration of revenue figures in the face of biting inflation, high food prices, and currency depreciation.
The ADC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, dismissed the President’s declaration as absurd.
He described the APC-led Federal Government’s economic policy as strange, stressing that the revenue target has no meaningful impact on the lives of the citizens.
The ADC Publicity Secretary stated, “What is the essence of the revenue target if it has no direct impact on the lives of the people? What is the purpose of this revenue target if it does not have a direct impact on improving the lives of the people?
“Their economic policy is weird because any economy that does not put the people first cannot really claim to be doing anything. People don’t feel it. The reality that they are proclaiming is different from the reality of the life of the ordinary Nigerian. Nigerians want to see impact. They want to see improvement in their lives.”
He expressed concern that most Nigerians remain trapped below the poverty line.
Abdullahi continued, “I will give you one quick example. You know, the minimum wage, the APC-led government set it at N70,000. Even if it is fixed, it puts the majority of Nigerians below the poverty level.
“The majority of Nigerians will still live below the poverty level. So, that’s what we don’t understand about this claim about generating revenue targets when it does not have any impact.
“When the people cannot see it, they cannot see it. What is the purpose of revenue? They have borrowed so much money, leaving the country with so much debt. And we cannot see what they used the money for.
“And it’s on that basis that the President is claiming that they have met the revenue target. So, it’s absurd. You know? It’s absurd.”
The NNPP also dismissed the President’s claim, arguing that governance is not just about increasing revenue.
The NNPP National Publicity Secretary, Ladipo Johnson, said, “My question is, if Tinubu meets his revenue targets, has he met the target set out to ensure he looks after the welfare of the people of this country? His government is a tax-and-spend government.
“He believes that when revenue is coming in, that means it is working. Meanwhile, you are turning the screw on the people of the country who are already suffering. Everything shouldn’t just be restricted to revenue.”
The NNPP stated that while the President may have achieved his personal target, he has yet to meet the expectations of the citizens.
“Yes, it is good that the government makes money. But has the same government cut down its costs? Are the revenues meant to buy SUVs, regulate the Presidential Villa and augment the presidential fleet? These are the questions.
“So, no matter how low or high the bar is, the President set the target himself and has marked his own exam. But what about the target we set for him as a people? He hasn’t met our own target. Inflation is still high, and the naira has lost value. It’s presently at N1,600. So, let him talk about the targets we have set him for as a people.”
Also reacting, the CUPP National Secretary, Peter Ameh, said President Tinubu is disconnected from the realities facing Nigerians.
“I think the president is misunderstanding the yearning and the problems of Nigerians. He’s misunderstanding it in a great deal because he himself, as a president, is disconnected from reality. He has created an alternate universe for himself where he thinks that he’s living in the presidential field and doesn’t know what Nigerians are going through.
“He doesn’t know what Nigerians are going through. So, he thinks that taxing Nigeria and collecting revenue that does not have a direct reflection on the lives of the people is an achievement.
“One of the things he has done is that when he collects his revenue, what are the priorities of investments where he puts this money? Which area is he putting the money into that reflects on the lives of the people? It’s not about meeting the revenue target; Is the life of Nigerians better? Is he investing in healthcare? Is he investing in agriculture? Is he investing in our SMEs that will generate more revenue?
“What he’s doing, the president has decided to tax us, generate enough revenue, yet he’s making so much, he’s still borrowing so much money. If we are meeting this revenue target, then our level of borrowing should have reduced,” he submitted.
He wondered why the government was taking loans if it had met its revenue target.
“But there is nothing like that because if they have reached their thresholds or their targets of local revenue generation, why would they add to the burden of Nigeria by borrowing extensively from the foreign arena, where the interests are higher, conditions more stringent and where the fallouts result in more pains and sufferings both in the immediate period and the time to come.
“So the position of the Labour Party is that it is all lies and Nigerians should be doubly vigilant because any time a lie is told, it means there is a tough conspiracy behind the curtain.’’
The PUNCH
