The Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Zacch Adedeji, has defended the Federal Government’s decision to continue borrowing, despite recording a sharp rise in revenue inflows.
Speaking on Tuesday, September 23, during the Meet-the-Press series organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the Aso Villa, Abuja, Adedeji said borrowing remained part of the country’s broader economic 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 aside what was approved?” Adedeji told State House Correspondents.
His remarks followed President Bola Tinubu’s request in July for a $21.5 billion external loan, which included a $2 billion foreign currency bond and a ₦757.98 billion bond to settle pension liabilities under the Contributory Pension Scheme.
Three weeks earlier, on September 2, Tinubu had declared that Nigeria met its 2025 revenue target ahead of schedule and would no longer rely on borrowing to fund the budget.
Adedeji explained that loans are an essential part of any national budget.
“What is the component of a country’s budget? You have your expenditure, revenue, and loan in all budgets. So, if my expenditure for this year is ₦100,000 and my plan is that ₦80,000 will be from my revenue, I will borrow ₦20,000.
“If I’ve done revenue of ₦90,000 and I’m borrowing ₦10,000 according to what I have in my budget, what is the problem with that?”
He stressed that borrowing strengthens the economy rather than weakens it.
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“Borrowing is not a problem. Don’t forget that banks are part of our economic ecosystem. There is no country or individual in the world that survives based on its own income.
“Don’t forget that when the government borrows from banks, it will pay interest. It’s from that interest that they pay their salary. It is from the salary that the banks pay taxes to the state government; it is from this profit, the difference between deposit and lending, that gives them the profit that I collect taxes from.”
The FIRS boss insisted that government borrowing is targeted at long-term investments and not used to pay salaries.
He also pushed back against critics, whom he described as “container economists,” arguing that many base their opinions on social media commentary without understanding the deeper economic logic behind borrowing.
Meanwhile, Adedeji disclosed that federal revenue collection surged to ₦3.64 trillion in September 2025, a 411 percent increase from ₦711 billion in May 2023.
He attributed the growth to higher non-oil receipts, which rose to ₦1.06 trillion compared to ₦151 billion two years earlier. Oil revenue collected by FIRS reached ₦644 billion, while VAT climbed to ₦723 billion, more than three times the previous figure.
According to him, the revenue gains were driven by reforms that simplified the tax system, reduced burdens on small businesses, and rationalised incentives.
He added that further measures, including a new fiscal policy framework, updated excise rules, and e-invoicing, would improve compliance and expand the tax net.
Adedeji said the government also plans to harmonise subnational levies, introduce a presumptive regime for hard-to-tax groups, and lower corporate tax rates as part of wider constitutional and spending reforms.