… Revenue Leaps From ₦711bn In 2023 To ₦3.64trn In 2025
… Govt Insists Loans Will Pay For Themselve
The Federal Government has justified its continued resort to borrowing despite a 411 percent increase in national revenue in the last 16 months, insisting that loans are now dedicated solely to infrastructure and productive projects.
Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zacch Adedeji, stated this while briefing journalists at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Tuesday.
According to him, Nigeria’s revenue rose sharply from ₦711 billion in May 2023 to ₦3.64 trillion as of September 2025, following sweeping tax reforms introduced under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
Breaking down the figures, Adedeji disclosed that non-oil tax collections jumped from ₦151 billion to over ₦1 trillion, while oil revenue soared from ₦96 billion to ₦644 billion within the same period. Value Added Tax (VAT) receipts also tripled to ₦723 billion, customs revenue expanded from ₦106 billion to ₦322 billion, and remittances from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission climbed from ₦125 billion to ₦745 billion.
He attributed the unprecedented growth to policy measures that streamlined taxes, reduced burdens on small businesses, and leveraged technology such as e-invoicing and data-driven audits to block leakages.
Responding to concerns over the government’s borrowing culture, Adedeji said loans were no longer being taken to fund recurrent expenditure such as salaries and subsidies but to finance projects that could generate future income.
“Borrowing is no longer for salaries or subsidies. It is now for infrastructure and productive investments that will yield future revenue. When you borrow to construct roads, you eventually collect taxes from those who use the roads,” he said.
He argued that borrowing, when kept within budgetary limits and tied to growth-driven projects, was a necessary economic tool.
“If I have revenue of 80 and borrow 20 as planned, I meet my target of 100. The problem is when borrowing is excessive or unplanned. What we are doing is sustainable borrowing for growth,” Adedeji explained.
President Tinubu had also emphasised in his 2025 mid-year economic briefing that borrowing would remain targeted at projects capable of paying for themselves, while fiscal discipline and resource mobilisation remained central to government policy.
Adedeji stressed that no country survives solely on internally generated revenue, adding that strategic borrowing was key to sustaining Nigeria’s growth trajectory.
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