By Mardiyyah Abubakar
The Federal Government generated N20.4tn in additional resources between June 2023 and December 2025 but spent N30.64tn on additional obligations during the period, leaving about N10tn to be funded from its existing revenue base.
Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, disclosed this on Wednesday while presenting the Federal Government’s Nigeria Reform Scorecard, titled “The Benefits, Costs and Harm Prevented.”
Oyedele said the removal of petrol subsidy and the unification of the foreign exchange market generated N15.8tn in additional resources for the Federation during the period.
However, the Federal Government received only N5.4tn, representing 34 per cent of the amount. States received N6.5tn, while local governments received N3.9tn under the Federation Account allocation formula.
The minister explained that the N15.8tn was not deposited into a separate account labelled “subsidy savings.”
Instead, the reforms increased the naira value of revenues accruing to the Federation.
He said higher exchange rates increased the naira value of dollar-denominated revenues collected through Customs and the Petroleum Profit Tax, among others.
“Between June 2023 and December 2025, subsidy savings mobilised a sum of N15.8tn in resources for the Federation,” Oyedele said.
He added that the additional resources did not come from petrol subsidy removal alone, noting that the foreign exchange reforms also eliminated what he described as an implicit subsidy that benefited rent-seekers rather than ordinary Nigerians and manufacturers.
According to the scorecard, the Federal Government generated N3.1tn in additional independent revenue, mainly through increased remittances from government-owned entities.
It also raised N11.9tn through additional borrowing.
This brought the Federal Government’s total incremental resources to N20.4tn, with borrowing accounting for 58 per cent, subsidy savings 27 per cent and other revenue 15 per cent.
However, the government’s incremental expenditure reached N30.64tn during the 31-month period.
Of the amount, N9.39tn went into wage adjustments, including the new national minimum wage, wage awards and allowances for public servants.
Another N9.37tn went into additional external debt servicing caused by the depreciation of the naira, while N6.47tn was spent on strategic infrastructure.
The three expenditure areas accounted for about N25.22tn, representing more than 82 per cent of the total incremental spending.
The government also spent N3.14tn on additional electricity subsidy costs, N1.24tn on increased domestic debt servicing linked to higher interest rates and N423.8bn on social welfare transfers.
A further N419.1bn went to the Federal Capital Territory, Ecological Fund, Natural Resource Fund and other interventions, while N201.26bn covered the higher naira cost of foreign obligations.
Oyedele said the additional resources helped the government fund increased expenditure without relying excessively on the printing of money.
He said about two-thirds of the N30.64tn incremental expenditure was funded with new resources, while the remaining one-third, approximately N10tn, came from the government’s existing revenue base.
The minister said the figures provided a detailed response to longstanding questions about where the savings from petrol subsidy removal went.
President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of the petrol subsidy on May 29, 2023, promising to redirect the funds towards infrastructure, education and other programmes that would benefit Nigerians.
However, the policy triggered significant increases in transport costs, food prices and other living expenses, leading to sustained public demands for transparency over the use of the savings.
Oyedele acknowledged that the reforms came with significant costs, including higher prices and a sharp adjustment in the value of the naira.
He said the government was presenting the scorecard not to claim victory but to account for the resources generated and how they were used.
“We invited you here today not to declare a victory, but to give an account,” he said.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, described the subsidy removal as one of the most difficult and significant economic reforms undertaken by the Tinubu administration.
Idris acknowledged the impact of the reforms on households and businesses but argued that they were necessary to redirect resources from what he described as an unsustainable subsidy regime towards productive investments.
The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Bagudu, also said the administration inherited an economy with a low revenue-to-GDP ratio and limited fiscal capacity.
He said the government therefore had to take difficult decisions to reduce fiscal leakages, restore confidence and create more room for investment in security, infrastructure, human capital and grassroots development.
Bagudu said the government was also implementing measures to cushion the impact of the reforms on vulnerable Nigerians.
He added that resources generated through the reforms were being invested in projects and programmes across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.
The Federal Government maintained that the reforms had created additional fiscal space and helped prevent a deeper economic and financial crisis.
