TINUBU’S REVENUE TARGET AND THE UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu recently announced that Nigeria had impressively surpassed its 2025 revenue targets as early as August 2025. On the surface, this is a laudable feat, especially in a country where revenue shortfalls have often undermined economic planning and budget implementation. Meeting revenue targets ahead of schedule should ordinarily signal hope for better fiscal stability, improved service delivery, and greater infrastructural development.

However, beneath this celebration lies a series of unanswered questions. If the government has indeed met and exceeded its revenue targets, why are many Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) still struggling to perform their statutory functions due to lack of funds? Reports indicate that numerous local contractors are owed huge sums of money, with many unable to service loans collected from banks to execute government projects. These contractors, like many Nigerians, have families to feed and workers to pay. Their plight raises doubts about the practical impact of Nigeria’s much-publicized revenue success.

Even more troubling is the admission by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, that Nigerian missions abroad are facing serious financial difficulties. Diplomats and staff are allegedly unable to receive salaries on time, service routine bills, or function effectively. For a country that prides itself as the “Giant of Africa,” this is both embarrassing and dangerous, as it undermines Nigeria’s international image and diplomatic presence.

The critical question therefore remains: Why are budgeted funds not being released, despite the government’s claim of surpassing its revenue goals? Nigerians deserve to know what is being done with the generated funds. Transparency and accountability must be at the center of public finance management if citizens are to trust the system.

President Tinubu must go beyond rhetoric and take concrete action. Contractors who have fulfilled their part of government agreements should be promptly paid. Funds appropriated to MDAs should be released without unnecessary bottlenecks. Furthermore, anti-graft agencies such as the EFCC and ICPC must step up oversight to ensure that released funds are judiciously utilized, rather than diverted for personal gain.

Revenue generation is only half of the equation; what matters most is how those revenues are deployed to improve the lives of Nigerians. Until this gap between collection and disbursement is addressed, the government’s claims of fiscal achievement will continue to ring hollow.

 Tochukwu Jimo Obi, jimobi83@gmail.com