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N54tn budget: Experts blast Tinubu over additional N4.5tn 

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Some players in the Nigerian economy have shared different views following the decision of the Federal Government to increase the 2025 Appropriation Bill from N49.7tn to N54.2tn on the back of additional revenues generated by key government agencies.

On Wednesday, letters from President Bola Tinubu were read on the floor of the Senate indicating the adjustments in the yet-to-be-passed budget.

The President conveyed the budget adjustment in separate letters sent to both the Senate and the House of Representatives, which were read during Wednesday’s plenary by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.

Tinubu presented a N49.7tn budget proposal, themed ‘Budget of Restoration: Securing Peace, Rebuilding Prosperity,’ to the National Assembly in November.

The Federal Government projects a total revenue of N36.35tn for 2025, anchored on improved non-oil revenue generation. This includes expanded tax collections, customs duties, and independent revenue from government-owned enterprises, alongside oil revenue projections based on a crude oil benchmark of $75 per barrel, a production target of 2.06 million barrels per day, and an exchange rate of N1,500 per USD.

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The total expenditure of N49.7tn includes significant allocations to critical sectors while targeting a fiscal deficit of N13.39tn (3.96 per cent of GDP). This deficit will be financed through domestic and external borrowings as well as innovative public-private partnership arrangements.

Tinubu said the increase was driven by N1.4tn in additional revenue from the Federal Inland Revenue Service, N1.2tn from the Nigeria Customs Service, and N1.8tn generated by other government agencies. Following the reading of the letter, Akpabio referred the President’s request to the Senate Committee on Appropriations for urgent consideration.

He also assured lawmakers that the budget would be finalised and passed before the end of February.

President Tinubu had in a letter read on the floor of the Senate and House of Representatives same day premised the request to increase the budget proposal to additional revenue generated by key agencies of government.

According to the letter, the Federal Inland Revenue Service generated N1.4tn, the Nigeria Customs Service generated N1.2tn while the sum of N1.8tn was generated by other government-owned agencies.

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The Federal Government said the increase would also support its diversification programme by investing more into the solid minerals sector and infrastructure projects.

The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu, disclosed this to journalists after he saw off President Bola Tinubu to the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja, en route to France.

In a letter dated February 3, 2025, addressed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, Tinubu sought an additional N4.5tn to the 2025 Appropriation Bill being considered by the National Assembly.

Explaining the rationale for the adjustment, Bagudu said it was established that the government-owned enterprises, including the Nigeria Customs Service, could contribute more revenue.

He said, “You will recall, Mr President submitted the N49tn budget to the National Assembly, and legislative work commenced.

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“The legislative work continued with interactions between the executive and the National Assembly. The National Assembly and the Economic Management Team continued to interrogate all figures.

“In that process, the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senate Committee on National Planning, and Senate Committee on Finance established that we can generate more revenue by tasking all the institutions to do more, and the Federal Inland Revenue Service confirmed the ability to do more than was submitted.”

He added, “Equally, it was established that the government-owned enterprises could contribute more revenue, as well as the Customs Service.

“So, additional revenue amounting to over N4.5tn was established, and this was taken to the President.

“And guided that this additional revenue should be used further to strengthen the Bank of Agriculture, Bank of Industry, support the diversification programme by putting more money in the solid minerals sector and infrastructure projects.”

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However, economist and sustainability expert Marcel Okeke slammed the government for the impromptu increment.

He worried that the budget that should have been operational from January 1, 2025, is still going through the legislative process with changes from the FG.He said, “If the government was talking about a supplementary budget anytime within the year, that is a different matter than within one to two months; you rush to bring these adjustments. It is good, but the proper thing would have been to wait and come up with a supplementary budget. Everything would have been in order if the budget itself had been rounded off at the time it was supposed to and had become effective January 1, 2025. Not this situation where they are making additions as afterthoughts. You don’t run a country like that. Let me tell you, the figures that they released in December have gone to all parts of the world.

“The world has started doing all that they want to do about Nigeria, on Nigeria, for Nigeria, and with Nigeria based on those figures. We are talking about institutions; analysts all over the world have been using those figures. You may not understand the enormity of this move. Because of the mood that we are in now, people may be clapping that FG saw more money and brought it, but that is not how to do a budget. Who says they will not come back again before the National Assembly finishes the job? My position is that they should have waited and come up with a supplementary budget.”

Chief Economist and Partner at SPM Professionals, Paul Alaje, also raised concerns about the effect of the increased spending on the inflation target of the federal government, which was 15 per cent.

Alaje said, “I think it is straightforward. Number one, FG is claiming that because some agencies of government are now generating more revenue, therefore, they feel we can spend more. Also, I think the real reason is that there seem to be some projects that had been exempted from the 2025 budget, and the government thought it important to add them back to the budget.

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“These are some of the factors for the government adding to the 2025 budget, but with this amount in the economy, you should note that the government’s expectation of 15 per cent inflation may remain a mirage.”

Managing Director of Arthur Steven Asset Management Limited, Tunde Amolegbe, sees this as a welcome development that would enable infrastructural growth.

He said, “I have always been an advocate for an ambitious budget because that’s the only way we can improve our grossly inadequate infrastructure before we can even contemplate gravitating towards a productive economy. On a per capita basis, if you look at our budget, we are way below that of countries with similar demographics in terms of population and age. How then do we hope to lift our people out of poverty when the government itself isn’t spending enough to raise people’s standard of living?”

Sounding a note of caution, Amolegbe, a former president of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers, affirmed that it is important “that we keep our eye on ratios such as debt-to-revenue and debt-to-GDP to ensure we do not tip into over-leveraged territory.”

A leading economist, who spoke on condition of anonymity, faulted the budget proposal raise, saying it would worsen the economy.

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He said, ‘”Why would government raise the budget when its deficit is running to almost N16tn. The deficit is hitting up the economy. With all these borrowings here and there, government should have simply reduced the deficit. By the way, how are we sure the government will even generate up to the budgeted amount. Over the years, have we been generating enough to meet the revenue target? We don’t have that track record.”

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has thrown its weight behind President Tinubu’s proposal to the National Assembly to increase the 2025 budget proposal from N49.7tn to N54.2tn, saying the development is driven by additional revenue from key government agencies.

After reading the letter on the floor of the Senate and House of Representatives on Wednesday, Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, who presided over plenary sessions at the Red and Green Chambers respectively, referred it to the Committees on Finance and Appropriations for quick consideration.

This is even as the Senate President assured Nigerians that the 2025 budget proposal would be passed before the end of February.

In an interview with The PUNCH, the spokesman of the House of Representatives, Akin Rotimi, stated that the parliament had a way of handling such requests.

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“We have legislative processes on this and other such matters. The executive proposal has been referred to the House Committee on Appropriations for further legislative action,” he said.

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Why Restoring Subsidy Would Set Nigeria Back – Former Abia Speaker Chinedum Orji Backs Tinubu

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When Alhaji Atiku Abubakar recently said he would restore petroleum subsidy if elected president, he tapped into a familiar frustration. Fuel prices are high, transport costs bite, and households are feeling the squeeze. That pain is real. But the promise to bring back the old subsidy regime is not relief. It is a return to a policy that bled the treasury, starved the states, and kept Nigeria dependent on borrowing to buy fuel.

For decades the subsidy was sold as a welfare program for the poor. In practice it became the most expensive welfare program for smugglers, marketers, and a handful of importers. The Nigerian National Petroleum Company would claim billions monthly, and no one could audit where the product actually went. That was not social protection. That was fiscal leakage at scale.

The first and most immediate benefit of subsidy removal is fiscal breathing room. In 2022 alone, subsidy gulped over 4 trillion naira. That was more than we spent on education, health, and capital projects combined. When that money stopped going to fuel, it did not disappear. It stayed in government coffers, and a large share of it flows directly to the sub nationals through FAAC.

The sub nationals are where the difference is being felt most. States and local governments now receive significantly higher monthly allocations. Governors in Rivers, Lagos, Kano, and others have reported FAAC receipts nearly doubling compared to pre-removal levels. That is money that can pay teachers, fix primary health centers, and clear pension arrears without waiting for Abuja bailouts.

In Rivers State, for example, the additional resources have allowed the state government to accelerate road projects, expand the school feeding conversation, and invest in water and sanitation. Across the country, states are using the windfall to clear salary backlogs and to fund security. That is the direct link between subsidy removal and better services at your doorstep.

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Beyond recurrent needs, the removal unlocked capital spending. With subsidy gone, the federal government and states are no longer borrowing just to keep petrol cheap. Instead, we are seeing commitments to CNG buses, mass transit, student loans, and conditional cash transfers. These are targeted interventions. They reach the vulnerable without subsidizing a businessman in Cotonou who drives across the border to buy cheap fuel.

One of the quietest but biggest wins is the end of the subsidy-driven smuggling economy. When Nigerian petrol was artificially cheap, an estimated 30 to 40 percent was leaving our borders daily. That drained our forex and rewarded criminal networks. With prices aligned to market, the incentive to smuggle collapsed almost overnight. That saves dollars and restores integrity to our supply chain.

Sub nationals also gained policy space. Before, states were trapped. They could not raise IGR fast enough to match their responsibilities because the center was spending all its revenue on fuel. Now, with more money coming from FAAC and with subsidy no longer a federal albatross, states can plan medium-term budgets. They can borrow for infrastructure knowing their revenue base is real, not propped up by a phantom fuel bill.

The macroeconomic case is just as strong. Subsidy removal freed up foreign exchange that was being used to import and “subsidize” fuel. That pressure contributed to naira volatility. With the drain gone, the CBN has more room to stabilize the market, and investors see a government willing to make hard choices. Confidence matters for FDI, and FDI builds factories, not just fuel stations.

Let us be honest about the counterargument. Atiku and others argue that Nigerians cannot afford the current prices and that government should cushion the pain by restoring subsidy. The compassion is understandable. But the method is wrong. A blanket subsidy is the bluntest tool possible. It subsidizes the rich who own three cars, it subsidizes generators in malls, and it subsidizes our neighbors.

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Targeted support is both cheaper and fairer. The savings from subsidy removal are already funding student loans, nano-grants, and public transport reforms. Those programs can be scaled. If we put 1 trillion naira directly into transport, health insurance, and food support, the impact on the poor will be ten times what the same 1 trillion did when spread thinly across every liter of petrol.

International experience backs this. Indonesia, India, and Ghana all removed fuel subsidies and redirected the savings to health, education, and cash transfers. In each case there was short-term pain, followed by stronger public services. Countries that reversed course and brought subsidies back, like Egypt in 2014 before its second reform, ended up in deeper debt crises.

Restoring subsidy now would also reverse private sector investment. Since the removal, private companies have begun investing in refineries, CNG conversion centers, and logistics. Dangote Refinery, modular refineries, and gas infrastructure are viable only because prices reflect costs. If we announce that subsidy will return, those investors pause. That means fewer jobs in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Lagos.

For the sub nationals, a return to subsidy is a direct pay cut. FAAC would shrink again. States would go back to borrowing to pay salaries. Projects started with the new revenues would stall. Local governments, which depend almost entirely on federal transfers, would be the first to feel it. That is not theoretical. We lived it for 20 years.

Atiku’s argument rests on the idea that the timing was wrong and the palliatives were insufficient. Fair critique. But the solution to poor implementation is better implementation, not abandoning the reform. We should demand faster rollout of CNG buses, more transparency in how FAAC windfalls are spent, and stronger monitoring of state budgets. We should not demand a return to the policy that caused the weakness.

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The subsidy was also a corruption magnet. It created a system where claims were king and verification was optional. Removing it broke that cycle. Bringing it back without fixing the governance structure is inviting the same fraud, only now with higher global oil prices and a weaker naira.

There is also a climate and energy angle. Cheap petrol discouraged gas adoption and kept us locked into generators. With market pricing, CNG, electric tricycles, and solar become economically sensible. States can lead this transition because they now have the funds to subsidize conversion kits, not fuel itself.

Politically, the promise to restore subsidy sounds popular in the short term. But governance is about trade-offs. The trade-off here is clear: cheap fuel for a few months versus hospitals, roads, and jobs for years. Sub nationals have already shown what they can do with the extra money. To take it away is to punish the very level of government closest to the people.

Finally, debt. Subsidy was financed largely by borrowing and by unpaid arrears to NNPC. That debt was crowding out everything else. Every naira we do not spend on subsidy is a naira we do not have to borrow. That lowers interest payments, which in turn frees more money for states and local governments.

Nigeria does not need a return to the past. We need to finish the work of this reform. That means plugging leakages, auditing state spending, and scaling targeted support so no family is left behind.

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Alhaji Atiku is a respected Nigerian, but on this point he is wrong. Restoring subsidy would undo the single most important fiscal correction we have made in a generation. It would hurt the states, weaken the naira, and put us back on the borrowing treadmill.

The better path is forward. Keep the subsidy gone. Let the sub nationals keep the resources. And let government prove that the savings can translate into tangible relief. That is how we turn pain into progress, and that is how we build a Nigeria that works beyond election cycles.

CHINEDUM ENYINNAYA ORJI writes from Amaokwe Ugba, Umuahia Ibeku and the All Progressives Congress Candidate for Ikwuano Umuahia Federal Constituency.

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Seven Killed, Seven Injured In Bida-Kutigi Road Crash

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Seven people have died and seven others sustained injuries in a fatal road crash on the Bida-Kutigi road in Niger State, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has confirmed.

The FRSC Niger Sector Commander, Corps Commander Aishatu Sa’adu, confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday.

Sa’adu said the crash occurred on Sunday afternoon at Shebe village, a few kilometres from Kutigi town.

According to her, the accident involved a Mazda vehicle and a Siena bus travelling along the Bida-Kutigi road.

“Seven people lost their lives, seven others were injured while four were rescued without injuries, bringing the total involved to 18,” she said.

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The sector commander said the seven victims who died were confirmed dead at the scene, while the injured victims sustained injuries of varying degrees.

She said the injured were evacuated to Kutigi General Hospital for medical attention, while the remains of the deceased were deposited at the hospital’s mortuary.

The FRSC official did not immediately disclose the identities of the victims or provide further details on the circumstances surrounding the collision.

The crash involved a total of 18 people, comprising seven fatalities, seven injured persons and four uninjured survivors.

Authorities are expected to investigate the cause of the accident and determine the circumstances that led to the fatal collision.

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Donald Duke: Nigeria Is One of Africa’s Poorest Countries

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The presidential candidate of the People’s Redemption Party (PRP), Donald Duke, has described as a “lie” the claim that Nigeria is Africa’s wealthiest country, arguing that the country remains one of the poorest on the continent when measured by per capita income.

Duke, a former governor of Cross River State, stated this during an interview with journalists in Lagos.

He said Nigeria’s position as Africa’s largest economy by Gross Domestic Product (GDP) did not necessarily reflect the living standards of its citizens.

“It is embarrassing that a country that was considered one of the wealthiest in Africa still thinks today that it is the largest economy in Africa. That is not true.

“We are living a lie. It is a nice sound bite, though, to say that Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa. No. Nigeria is just one of the poorest when you take per capita income into consideration,” he said.

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Duke said productivity remained critical to economic development, noting that several countries Nigerians considered smaller had higher per capita incomes.

On insecurity, the PRP presidential candidate said he preferred not to describe terrorists operating in Nigeria as “Islamic terrorists”, arguing that their activities were not driven by Islam.

He attributed part of the security challenges, particularly in Northern Nigeria, to the collapse of Libya, which he said contributed to the movement of arms into Nigeria through its land borders.

Duke said the government needed short-, medium- and long-term measures to tackle kidnapping, banditry and terrorism.

“Right now, you have got to deal with the security problems as they exist today — kidnapping, banditry, terrorism and all that.

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“But even beyond that, those things are consequences of other things. They are consequences of a very poor economy and, of course, the failure to properly manage our borders,” he said.

He also called for measures to improve citizens’ productivity through increased local production and the use of modern technology to strengthen border security.

On the economic development of Northern Nigeria, Duke said that, if elected president, he would restructure mining activities in the region to ensure that local and state governments, as well as host communities, benefited from the sector.

He said the region’s mineral deposits, rather than oil in the Chad Basin, represented a major economic opportunity.

“There must be a structured way of mining. Today, it is artisanal, and the broader community, the border communities, society and the nation itself do not adequately benefit from those resources,” Duke said.

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He cited gold deposits in Zamfara State as an example, saying insecurity had affected mining activities in the area.

Duke proposed that each state should be treated as an economic entity, with the Federal Government working with state governments to assess mineral deposits and establish proven reserves capable of attracting investors.

He said mining development should involve a partnership between the Federal and state governments, with revenues shared between both levels of government.

However, Duke stressed that security remained essential to attracting investment into the mining sector.

“Nobody is going to invest if there is no security,” he said, citing the experience of the Niger Delta, where insecurity had contributed to oil companies moving their operations to offshore locations.

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FAAC bonanza: Govs face questions as payouts hit N47tn

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The 36 state governors are facing growing pressure to account for how they have spent public funds disbursed as revenue by the Federation Account Allocation Committee in the last three years.

This scrutiny follows the revelation that the Federation Account disbursed about N47tn to the three tiers of government in the three years since the removal of petrol subsidy.

This was as the Federal Government, 36 states and 774 local governments shared a cumulative N93.216tn as revenue from the Federation Account between 2017 and 2025, with more than half of the amount distributed in the three years following the economic reforms introduced by the Federal Government in 2023.

These figures were disclosed in a document obtained by our correspondent from the Federal Ministry of Finance on Sunday.

It showed that N47.25tn, representing about 50.7 per cent of the N93.13tn shared during the period, was distributed between 2023 and 2025 alone, highlighting the sharp expansion in revenues following the removal of petrol subsidy, exchange rate reforms and increased revenue mobilisation.

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But policy analysts, civil society groups and other critics say the increase in revenue has not translated into a corresponding improvement in the living conditions of Nigerians facing rising living costs, unemployment, poverty and inadequate public services.

In an interview, a policy analyst, Adebayo Abubakar, said the removal of subsidy had increased government revenues but argued that the additional funds had not always translated into spending that reflected the economic hardship facing Nigerians.

“Roads, bridges, drainage and other infrastructure remain important, but some governments appear to favour conspicuous projects while schools, healthcare facilities, water supply and other basic services receive inadequate attention,” he said.

The removal of petrol subsidy and other economic reforms introduced by the Federal Government in 2023 have triggered an unprecedented surge in revenue flowing into the Federation Account, with the 36 states and 774 local government areas receiving significantly higher allocations amid growing questions over how the windfall has translated into improved infrastructure, security and public services.

The sharp increase in Federation Account Allocation Committee payouts has, however, placed state governors under renewed scrutiny, as many Nigerians continue to grapple with high living costs, poor infrastructure and worsening insecurity despite the substantial growth in revenues available to subnational governments.

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While some governors have linked higher FAAC receipts to road construction, bridges, healthcare, education, workers’ welfare and other projects, residents in some states said the increased revenue had not resulted in improved public services or reduced economic hardship.

Findings by The PUNCH showed that the Federal Government, states and local governments received about N47tn from the Federation Account in the three years following the reforms, exceeding the amount shared in the preceding six-year period and reigniting the debate over the benefits and consequences of the subsidy removal policy.

FAAC disbursements

The document showed that FAAC distributions rose from N5.64tn in 2017 to N21.90tn in 2025, representing an increase of about 288 per cent over the nine-year period.

Year-by-year, net FAAC stood at N5.64tn in 2017, N7.98tn in 2018, N7.85tn in 2019, N7.11tn in 2020, N8.12tn in 2021 and N9.18tn in 2022. It subsequently rose to N10.09tn in 2023, N15.26tn in 2024 and a record N21.90tn in 2025.

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The development highlights the dramatic transformation in Nigeria’s federation revenue following the removal of petrol subsidy, reforms in the foreign exchange market and efforts to improve revenue mobilisation.

It also exposes the limits of measuring Nigeria’s revenue growth in naira terms alone. While the removal of petrol subsidy, foreign exchange reforms and improved revenue mobilisation helped to push FAAC allocations sharply higher, a significant part of the increase reflects the devaluation of the naira.

For instance, Nigeria shared N7.98tn through FAAC in 2018, which, at the Central Bank of Nigeria exchange rate at the time, was equivalent to about $26bn. By 2025, the amount shared had risen almost threefold to N21.9tn. However, when converted at the CBN exchange rate for 2025, the allocation was worth only about $14.4bn.

In other words, while FAAC distribution increased by about 174 per cent in naira terms between 2018 and 2025, its dollar value fell by roughly 45 per cent, or about $11.6bn.

The comparison suggests that the apparent surge in federation revenue was driven not only by increased revenue generation and reforms, but also by the weaker naira, which translated dollar-denominated oil and other foreign currency earnings into substantially larger amounts of naira.

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The document showed that net FAAC allocations stood at N5.64tn in 2017 and rose to N7.98tn in 2018, representing a 29 per cent increase. However, growth was not sustained in the following two years.

The distributable revenue fell by two per cent to N7.85tn in 2019. It declined further by 10 per cent to N7.11tn in 2020, reflecting the economic disruptions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and developments in the oil market.

The distributable revenue, however, recovered to N8.12tn in 2021 and increased to N9.18tn in 2022. The document put the average annual growth rate for the pre-reform period at eight per cent. But the sharpest increase came after the reforms introduced in 2023.

Net FAAC rose to N10.09tn in 2023, representing a nine per cent increase. It then jumped by 34 per cent to N15.26tn in 2024 and expanded by another 30 per cent to a record N21.90tn in 2025.

This means the average annual growth rate accelerated from eight per cent in the pre-reform period to 24 per cent between 2023 and 2025. In effect, the pace of growth in distributable federation revenue was three times higher in the post-reform period than the average recorded before the reforms.

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The figures also showed the extraordinary weight of the last three years in Nigeria’s federation revenue history. Of the N93.13tn shared between 2017 and 2025, the N47.25tn distributed between 2023 and 2025 alone exceeded the combined allocations recorded in several earlier years, meaning that every N2 shared over the nine-year period contained more than N1 distributed after the reforms.

Finance ministry speaks

The Federal Ministry of Finance, in its assessment of the reforms, said states and local governments had received substantially higher allocations, increasing the resources available to subnational governments for salaries, pensions, infrastructure and other public responsibilities.

The ministry said, “States and local governments received significantly higher allocations through the Federation Account, increasing the resources available to meet salaries, pensions, infrastructure and other responsibilities at the subnational level that benefit the people.”

It added that, compared with the monthly run-rate before the removal of petrol subsidy, “states received about N9.17tn in additional allocations from June 2023 to December 2025,” while local governments received about N6.66tn in additional allocations during the same period.

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Further analysis of tier-by-tier annual distribution figures for 2022 to 2025 showed that the Federal Government received N1.996tn in 2022, N3.749tn in 2023, N4.570tn in 2024 and N7.024tn in 2025, bringing its four-year allocation to about N17.34tn.

The states received N2.060tn in 2022, N4.179tn in 2023, N6.533tn in 2024 and N8.934tn in 2025, totalling about N21.71tn, while local governments received N1.285tn, N2.601tn, N3.774tn and N5.351tn respectively, amounting to about N13.01tn over the four years.

The figures showed that the states emerged as the biggest beneficiaries of the post-reform expansion in FAAC receipts. Their annual allocation jumped from N4.18tn in 2023 to N8.93tn in 2025, more than doubling within two years. In 2024, states received N6.53tn, exceeding the Federal Government’s N4.57tn allocation in the figures contained in the document.

A World Bank analysis similarly identified 2024 as a turning point when state governments received more from FAAC distributable revenues than the Federal Government, reflecting a structural shift in the pattern of federation revenue distribution.

The expansion in FAAC receipts has been linked largely to the fiscal reforms introduced by President Bola Tinubu’s administration after it assumed office in May 2023.

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The reforms included the removal of petrol subsidy and changes to the foreign exchange regime, alongside efforts to improve tax collection and revenue remittances.

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Nwabueze Denies Running ‘Fake Agency’, Says Made-in-Nigeria Project Has Operated Under OSGF for 16 Years

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The National Coordinator and Executive Director of the National Brands Development and Made in Nigeria Special Project Office, George Nwabueze, has denied the allegation of running a “fake agency” in the country.

Nwabueze, who spoke with newsmen on Saturday, noted that he oversaw an office which was under the supervision of the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

He noted that the office had been in existence for 16 years.

The Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission had on Friday said the President had ordered Nwabueze’s arrest for leading and promoting the outfit, which it tagged as a fake federal agency.

The ICPC said the accused was running it with the collaboration of senior public servants in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

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But responding to our correspondent, the embattled executive director said, “Made in Nigeria Special Project Office is a project office in the OSGF. We don’t know where fake agency comes from. A programme that has been in the SGF’s office since 16 July 2010 was just discovered yesterday (Friday). After 16 years; Nigeria is a funny country.”

Nwabueze spoke while responding to our correspondent’s enquiries on LinkedIn, where he had earlier posted his appointment letter to rebuff ICPC’s claim of illegality.

The letter, dated October 3, 2025, was purportedly issued by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

It was referenced OSGF/MIN/59310/11/205 and signed by the Permanent Secretary, Political and Economic Affairs Office, Nadungu Gagare.

The letter, addressed to “Hon. George Buchi Nwabueze, National Coordinator, Made in Nigeria Project Office, OSGF, Three Arms Zone, Abuja,” conveyed the approval of his appointment as National Coordinator/Executive Director of the Made in Nigeria Project Office under the OSGF.

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According to the document, the appointment was for a five-year tenure beginning from July 2025 and was renewable.

“I am directed to formally convey the approval of your appointment as National Coordinator/Executive Director of the Made in Nigeria Project Office under the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation,” the letter stated.

It added that the appointment followed “a careful evaluation of your commitment, contribution, and capacity in delivering on the mandate of the Special Project Office.”

The document listed Nwabueze’s responsibilities to include the supervision and development of programmes, projects and policies; supervision of regional and state coordinators across the 36 states; and organisation of exhibitions, trade expos, economic summits and other promotional initiatives aimed at promoting indigenous products and services.

It further stated that the project was to operate temporarily from Room B53, Ground Floor, within the OSGF complex.

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“Please note that this appointment is at the pleasure of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, and in line with the objectives of the Made in Nigeria initiative under the Renewed Hope Agenda,” the letter said.

Efforts to engage Nwabueze further on the matter proved abortive as he declined response.

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