ADC faults Tinubu over 2025 revenue claim, cites ‘N21trn shortfall’

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has accused President Bola Tinubu of misleading Nigerians with false revenue claims.

The party said the government’s celebration of revenue growth does not match reality, citing a N21.22 trillion shortfall between the 2025 budget projection and actual collections.

On Monday, Tinubu said Nigeria has achieved its 2025 revenue target ahead of schedule, ruling out further borrowing.

“Nigeria is not borrowing a dime from local banks. We have met our revenue target for the year, and we met it in August,” the president said when he received members of The Buhari Organisation (TBO), led by Tanko Almakura, former Nasarawa governor.

On Wednesday, the presidency said the federal government generated a revenue of N20.59 trillion between January and August.

Non-oil sector accounted for N15.69 trillion out of the total revenue, according to a statement by Bayo Onanuga, special adviser to the president on information and strategy.

But Bolaji Abdullahi, ADC’s national publicity secretary, said in a statement on Thursday that the administration was punishing Nigerians with new policies while presenting “propaganda” as success.

“Nigerians will recall that when the 2025 budget was passed, it projected a total revenue of N41.81 trillion. Yet today, the federal government is celebrating the mobilisation of N20.59 trillion, leaving a gaping shortfall of N21.22 trillion,” the statement reads.

“Put in perspective, this would mean an average revenue of N3.48 trillion per month, totalling N27.87 trillion for the first eight months of the year.

“Is the government then claiming to have surpassed N27.87 trillion, or, even more incredulously, the full N41.81 trillion projection already? These figures simply do not add up.”

The party said Tinubu’s claims about the naira-dollar rate were “patently false”.

“A simple Google search will show that on the morning President Tinubu was sworn in, the naira traded at approximately N460.72 to the US dollar, and between N700 and N800 in the parallel market,” ADC said.

“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.”

The party also faulted the president’s claim that the government has stopped borrowing.

“Only a few days ago, on August 26, 2025, the Debt Management Office announced that it raised N136.16 billion through a federal government bond auction,” ADC said.

“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 N180 trillion, the highest in Nigeria’s history.”

The ADC described the newly introduced 5% petrol tax as “cruel and insensitive”.

“The least Nigerians deserve are interventions to mitigate the impact of subsidy removal, not an additional tax that will further burden them,” Abdullahi said.

He also criticised the 300 percent increase in the cost of obtaining an international passport, describing it as one of the most expensive globally.

“In the United Kingdom, a passport costs just 5% of the minimum monthly wage. In Nigeria, it now costs 143% of the minimum wage,” he said.

The party accused Tinubu’s administration of exploiting rather than governing the country.

“A government that constantly takes from the people while lying to them is not governing, it is exploiting,” ADC said.

“Nigeria cannot continue to function on the APC’s endless propaganda mixed with everyday punishments.”