Market News

By : Terhemba Daka, Azeez Olorunlomeru

Director general of the Budget Office of the Federation, Tanimu Yakubu, has dismissed what he described as “theatrical arithmetic” in public critiques of Tinubunomics, arguing that much of the outrage surrounding Nigeria’s fiscal numbers is based on a misunderstanding of basic public finance principles.

Similarly, the Senator representing Ogun West Senatorial District, Olamilekan Yayi, has hailed the President’s economic policies, saying the developments had enabled the country to save over N10 trillion yearly.

In his comment, Yakubu said the circulation of large headline figures purporting to show massive government revenues often resulted from the improper aggregation of unrelated items, including tax collections, oil receipts, borrowing, and so-called subsidy savings.

According to the Budget DG in a statement made available to State House correspondents yesterday, “such presentations amount to an arithmetic illusion rather than serious economic analysis.”

He explained that many critics failed to distinguish between revenue, cash, and financing, as well as between federation collections and the actual resources available to the Federal Government.

“Revenue is not the same as cash available to the Federal Government. Borrowing is not income; it is financing that creates future obligations. Federation receipts are not equivalent to what the Federal Government can spend,” Yakubu stated.

According to him, once the distinctions are ignored, virtually any dramatic figure can be manufactured and used to fuel public outrage.even when the implied money never existed in spendable form, adding that a common pattern in such critiques involves citing aggregate tax collections in gross terms, adding oil revenues without clarifying whether they are net or gross, and layering customs receipts that may already be embedded in non-oil revenue figures.

Borrowing, he adds, is often presented as free income, while subsidy reform is portrayed as having generated vast pools of idle cash.On fuel subsidy reform, Yakubu explained that the policy would not instantly produce discretionary cash but rather close long-standing fiscal leaks that previously manifested through arrears, opaque netting arrangements, and quasi-fiscal obligations.

ALSO in response to President Tinubu’s critics on the introduction of tax reform and subsidy removal, Yayi commended the President’s economic policies, saying the developments had enabled the country to save over 10 trillion naira annually.

He disclosed that before the removal of subsidies, Nigeria was borrowing seven to eight billion naira monthly to sustain fuel subsidies, which accumulated to not less than 10 trillion naira annually

He affirmed that Nigeria was now on the right track, with a predictable economy, a thriving micro-economy, and efforts to improve the macro-economy.