FG Will Keep Borrowing Despite 411% Revenue Surge – FIRS Boss

The Federal Government will continue to borrow despite a historic rise in its revenue inflows, Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zacch Adedeji, said on Tuesday.

Speaking to State House Correspondents during the Meet-the-Press series organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the Aso Villa, Adedeji argued that borrowing is not a sign of economic weakness but a deliberate part of the government’s fiscal strategy.

“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 outside what was approved?” he asked.

Adedeji’s comments came just two months after President Bola Tinubu requested a $21.5bn external loan package, including a $2bn foreign currency bond and a N757.98bn bond to settle pension liabilities under the Contributory Pension Scheme. Three weeks earlier, Tinubu had declared that Nigeria had met its 2025 revenue target ahead of schedule and would no longer rely on borrowing to fund its budget, a statement that drew criticism from commentators who accused the government of excessive debt accumulation.

Defending the government’s position, Adedeji explained that borrowing remains a fundamental component of the national budget, alongside revenue and expenditure. He likened the practice to a household balancing its income with loans when necessary.

“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?” he said.

The FIRS boss further stressed that government borrowing is not directed toward recurrent expenses such as salaries but is used for long-term projects that benefit the wider economy. He argued that borrowing allows governments to avoid higher future costs by financing critical infrastructure today.

He also described the practice as part of what he termed the “Matchy Concept” in business, which ensures continuity and fairness across generations. “Projects with benefits that outlive the present generation should not be shouldered entirely at once,” he said. “Borrowing to build a road, for instance, ensures that future users can contribute through taxes, thereby paying their fair share over time.”

Addressing criticism of Nigeria’s debt profile, Adedeji dismissed some detractors as “container economists,” accusing them of relying on superficial social media narratives rather than understanding the economic logic of borrowing.

He added that borrowing fuels economic activity by engaging banks and other financial institutions in the development process. “There is no country or individual in the world that survives based on its own income,” he said. “When the government borrows from banks, it pays interest. It’s from that interest that banks pay salaries, and from those profits, we collect taxes.”

Meanwhile, Adedeji revealed that federal revenue collection had risen sharply in recent months, reaching N3.64tn in September 2025, a 411 per cent increase from N711bn in May 2023. The surge was largely driven by non-oil receipts, which climbed to N1.06tn from N151bn two years earlier. Oil revenue from FIRS also grew to N644bn, while Value Added Tax collections more than tripled to N723bn.

He said the improved collections were a sign that ongoing reforms at FIRS were delivering results and that the agency was on track to sustain the momentum going forward.

Adedeji concluded that borrowing, when managed prudently, remains a tool for building a more resilient economy. “No company or country can grow sustainably without it,” he said.

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