• Obi slams Tinubu’s regime over rising debt, says nation heading to disaster 
Executive Chairman of the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), Dr Zacch Adedeji, has said the bold reform decisions of President Bola Tinubu pushed Nigeria’s monthly revenue generation from N711 billion as at May 2023 to over N3.635 trillion as at September 2025, about 411 per cent growth.
 
But former presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, criticised Tinubu’s administration over the country’s rising debt profile, warning that the country is “heading to disaster”.
 
Adedeji said the reform measures actually saved Nigeria from total collapse, given the level of fiscal stress the country was grappling with as at May 2023.
 
Speaking at the inauguration of the head office complex of NRS in Abuja on Tuesday, the revenue boss said when the Tinubu administration assumed office in 2023, Nigeria faced a critical inflexion point, marked by constrained fiscal space, weakened investor confidence and structural distortions across key sectors. 
 
But for the timely intervention of the President through the reform initiatives, such as the removal of fuel subsidy, unification of the foreign exchange markets, as well as clearing of longstanding backlogs that restored macroeconomic credibility, according to him, it would have been catastrophic for the country today.
 
He said before the reforms, Nigeria was facing a tax-to-Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio of less than 10 per cent, a debt service-to-revenue of 97 per cent, an unsustainable subsidy and product scarcity. The present administration, he added, undertook one of the most significant revenue reforms in Nigeria’s history.
 
“Over 60 fragmented tax laws were streamlined into a simplified and more coherent framework, strengthening compliance, improving predictability and enabling efficiency in administration”, he said.

“Crucially, this reform was not driven by higher tax burdens, but by better systems, broader coverage, and stronger governance. The outcome speaks for itself, with Nigeria recording a historic domestic revenue performance, demon\strating that disciplined reform yields sustainable results.”
 
Delivering a goodwill message, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, said the completed facility was not just a building or just a cost, but an investment, a physical expression of the fundamental shifts in how Nigeria is modernising revenue. 
 
The minister, who was represented by the Minister of State Finance, Dr Taiwo Oyedele, commended the doggedness of Adedeji in delivering the project and transforming the Nigerian tax system.

Obi, now African Democratic Congress (ADC) chieftain, made the remarks yesterday at the party’s national convention in Abuja.
 
According to him, the removal of petrol subsidy by the previous administration was intended to reduce borrowing and redirect funds towards national development. However, he argued that the present government increased borrowing despite maintaining the subsidy removal policy.
  
“When this government came into being, it removed the subsidy on petroleum. The reason was to stop borrowing to service it and use the resources to develop the country. But today, despite that removal, the government has continued borrowing.
  
“The previous administration left a debt of about N87 trillion. Today, we are close to N200 trillion. That means they have borrowed over 130 per cent more, despite removing the subsidy. At the same time, contractors are being owed, and no projects in the 2025 budget have been funded. We have a huge debt and have borrowed more for everything. We are heading to disaster,” he said.
 
Obi stated that the figures were intended to highlight what he described as the country’s economic drift, urging Nigerians to take collective responsibility.