₦airaland Forum

The Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Zacch Adedeji, on Tuesday said the Federal Government will continue to borrow despite its significant revenue inflows in recent months. He argued that borrowing is not a sign of weakness but part of the country’s broader economic strategy.
Adedeji also revealed that federal revenue collection surged to N3.64tn in September 2025, a 411 per cent jump from N711bn in May 2023.

“Borrowing is not a problem…is borrowing not part of the budget we submitted to the National Assembly. Was it not approved? Are we borrowing aside what was approved?” Adedeji told State House Correspondents during the latest session of the Meet-the-Press series organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the Aso Villa, Abuja.

His comments come barely two months after President Bola Tinubu in July requested a $21.5bn external loan, including a $2bn foreign currency bond and a N757.98bn bond to settle pension liabilities under the Contributory Pension Scheme.

Three weeks earlier, on September 2, Tinubu declared that Nigeria had met its revenue target for 2025 ahead of schedule and would no longer rely on borrowing to fund its budget. However, the administration has been heavily criticised for excessive borrowing.

In his reaction, Adedeji described the move as an integral component of Nigeria’s financial ecosystem and overall economic plan, stressing that the government’s approach is designed to balance revenue performance with long-term development objectives.

He explained, “What is the component of a country’s budget? You have your expenditure, revenue, and loan in all budgets. So, if my expenditure for this year is N100,000 and my plan is that N80,000 will be from my revenue, I will borrow N20,000. If I’ve done revenue of N90,000 and I’m borrowing N10,000 according to what I have in my budget, what is the problem with that?

“Borrowing is not a problem. Don’t forget that banks are part of our economic ecosystem. There is no country or individual in the world that survives based on its own income. Don’t forget that when the government borrows from banks, it will pay interest. It’s from that interest that they pay their salary. It is from the salary that the banks pay taxes to the state government; it is from this profit, the difference between deposit and lending, that gives them the profit that I collect taxes from.


Adedeji explained that government borrowing is not used to pay salaries but rather to secure long-term investments. He asked critics to imagine how much more expensive it would have been if the current fiscal structure had not been built at the time it was. He stressed that borrowing allows governments to avoid higher future costs.

The revenue chief further described borrowing as part of what he termed the “Matchy Concept” in business, which emphasises continuity. According to him, projects with benefits that outlive the present generation should not be shouldered entirely at once. For example, borrowing to build a road ensures that future users can contribute through taxes, thereby paying their fair share over time.

According to him, borrowing is a critical element of any sound economic plan, and no company or country can grow sustainably without it, since it is integral to a viable nation’s ecosystem.

Addressing critics, whom he referred to as “container economists,” Adedeji suggested that many fail to ask the right questions or truly understand the issues. He noted that some rely only on surface-level narratives, drawing their arguments from social media chatter, without grasping the economic logic behind borrowing.

Meanwhile, in his presentation to journalists, Adedeji revealed that federal revenue collection surged to N3.64tn in September 2025, a 411 per cent jump from N711bn in May 2023.

The increase, he explained, was driven by higher non-oil receipts, with FIRS’ non-oil collections topping N1.06tn compared to N151bn two years earlier. Oil revenue from FIRS also grew to N644bn, while VAT jumped more than threefold to N723bn

Adedeji attributed the gains to reforms that streamlined taxes, cut burdens on small businesses, and rationalised incentives. He said ongoing measures, including a new fiscal policy framework, excise rules, and e-invoicing, are expected to deepen compliance and expand the tax net. He also noted that the government plans to harmonise subnational levies, introduce a presumptive regime for hardto-tax groups, and reduce corporate tax rates as part of broader spending and constitutional reforms.

helinues:
Those who missed basic economic class in secondary school would argue against this.

helinues:
Those who missed basic economic class in secondary school would argue against this.

Austema:
The phrase "a borrower is a slave to the lender" is a proverb from Proverbs 22:7 in the Bible, meaning that taking on debt can lead to a loss of freedom and create financial obligations that make one beholden to the lender

helinues:
Those who missed basic economic class in secondary school would argue against this.

Quest7777:
These people wan use plenty talk confuse us.

The only time I'll agree that Tinubu is on the right track is when all these bogus statistics translate to reduced prices of goods & services and increased purchasing power of the average Nigerian.

iwaeda:
https://punchng.com/411-revenue-rise-wont-stop-fg-borrowing-firs/

Ruke1991:
Na loan from china make dem bow to china request to force Nigerian students to study Chinese language

chrisxxx:
They are gifting money. They are borrowing. Who does that? And who lends money to someone who will gift it out? Only IMF does that to African countries to tie them down in debt perpetually.

DeLaRue:
People just don't understand how government borrowing works, and why borrowing is needed.

There is no country in the world that is not borrowing on a regular basis. Please name one country, if you know it. The countries that are not borrowing are probably unable to borrow because they have poor credit standing.

The USA, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Africa, Kenya etc are borrowing on a regular/monthly and in some cases, weekly basis.

For a developing country like Nigeria that has far more need for infrastructure that will underpin the economy 10, 20, or 30 years time, you need to borrow now, to undertake the infrastructure now.

Mr Dangote borrowed billions of dollars to build Dangote refineries. The fact that you have money in the bank does not mean you should not borrow, if you need to borrow to invest in projects that your own money is not enough to undertake. That explains why the richest people in the world are also big time borrowers. Norway has $1.7 trillion dollars in the bank, making it the richest country in the world, but it is still borrowing. Saudi Arabia is a heavy borrower despite having $1.2 trillion in the bank.

If you don't borrow to expand, you will be stagnant, and other people will leave you behind.

What is important is that you use borrowing for good projects, and you can afford to repay it. The good news is that Nigeria can afford to repay its loans.

And with government revenues rising exponentially, there is room for more borrowing provided it is used for beneficial projects, and the new tax law coming into effect next year will bump up government revenues to levels that Nigeria has never seen in its history.

Don't let opposition politicians deceive you with the cries of too much borrowing.

jmoore:
Those who forget their own propaganda will support FIRS.

After Tinubu supporters have bombarded nairaland that Tinubu is not borrowing, you want to change mouth?

prinsam30:
This government always defending rubbish, God wen ar we emancipating from this brutal slavery