2025 Budget Has Unrealistic Revenue Projection – Adebayo

Former presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Adewole Adebayo, has said the revenue projection for 2025 budget would be impossible to achieve.

Adebayo noted that most agencies of the federal government have failed to be transparent in remitting revenues to the government coffers.

In a statement on Tuesday, Adebayo particularly pointed at the case of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), Nigeria Customs Service, and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), which are billed to generate a significant portion of the country’s revenue.

Naija News reported the 2025 budget revenue projection was put at ₦36.35 trillion. The federal government hoped that Customs would generate ₦6.5 trillion in 2025, while the FIRS would also increase its revenue by 2025.

The SDP chieftain, however, said they are “unrealistic revenue projections” because of the “lack of transparency in the allocation of funds across key government agencies.”

He stated that “many of these revenue-generating bodies fail to remit the full amounts due to the government, resulting in major financial leakages that hinder economic progress.”

Adebayo pointed out that the Ministry of Solid Minerals, headed by Dele Alake, was not putting needed efforts to curb illegal mining.

“Look at solid minerals. Dele Alake has been quiet lately, he needs to explain how he’s improved revenue from this sector. What he did was raise tariffs for licensed miners and create regulatory hurdles, but illegal mining is still thriving. The money stolen from illegal mining, from Zamfara to Osun to Ebonyi, is far greater than the entire budget they’re writing now,” he explained.

Adebayo maintained that conscious efforts must be made by the federal government and its agencies for the promises of the 2025 budget.