President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has announced that the federal government revenue stood at over N9.1 trillion in the first half (January- June) of 2024. This is over 100 percent higher than N4.06 trillion generated in H1 2023.
The president who stated this while calling for calm in the nationwide protest on Sunday, said that his government, in the past 14 months, has made significant strides in rebuilding the foundation of the economy to lead the country into a future of plenty and abundance.
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He also noted that the Nigeria in the last 13 months, revenue spent on debt servicing has dropped to 68 per cent from 97 per cent. The government according to him has also cleared outstanding foreign exchange obligations of about $ 5 billion without any adverse impact on our programmes.
This, he said has given more financial freedom and the room to spend more money on citizens, to fund essential social services like education and healthcare. “It has also led to our State, and Local Governments receiving the highest allocations ever in our country’s history from the Federation Account.
“On the fiscal side, aggregate government revenues have more than doubled, hitting over N9.1 trillion in the first half of 2024 compared to the first half of 2023 due to our efforts at blocking leakages, introducing automation and mobilising funding creatively without additional burden on the people.
“Productivity is gradually increasing in the non-oil sector, reaching new levels and taking advantage of the opportunities in the current economic ambience.
“My vision for our country is one of a just and prosperous nation where each person may enjoy the peace, freedom, and meaningful livelihood that only democratic good governance can provide – one that is open, transparent and accountable to the Nigerian people,” he said.
He noted that for decades, Nigeria’s economy has remained anaemic and taken a dip because of many misalignments that have stunted its growth, adding that “just over a year ago, the government deployed reached a point where we couldn’t afford to continue the use of temporary solutions to solve long-term problems for the sake of now and our unborn generations. I therefore took the painful yet necessary decision to remove fuel subsidies and abolish multiple foreign exchange systems which had constituted a noose around the economic jugular of our Nation and impeded our economic development and progress.”
These actions he said, blocked the greed and the profits that smugglers and rent-seekers made as well as blocked the undue subsidies which was extended to the neighbouring countries to the detriment of Nigerians, rendering our economy prostrate.
“These decisions I made were necessary if we must reverse the decades of economic mismanagement that didn’t serve us well. Yes, I agree, the buck stops on my table. But I can assure you that I am focused fully on delivering the governance to the people – good governance for that matter,” he said.
