- Safiu Kehinde
Former Nigerian lawmaker-turned lawyer, Sen. Dino Melaye, has made mockery of President Bola Tinubu over his fresh loan request from the World Bank despite his earlier declaration of an end to borrowing.
NPO Reported that Tinubu had declared that Nigeria had met its revenue target for 2025 ahead of schedule and would no longer borrow to fund its budget.
The President had made the declaration while addressing the Buhari Organisation last week Tuesday.
He announced that Nigeria is experiencing unprecedented growth in non-oil revenues, driven by reforms targeting fiscal stability, compliance, and digital tax administration.
Tinubu cited significant increases in non-oil revenues for all tiers of government between January and August 2025.
Total collections, according to him, reached ₦20.59 trillion, representing a 40.5 per cent rise from ₦14.6 trillion recorded during the same period in 2024.
The President had also revealed that the ₦20.59 trillion was mobilised in eight months, marking the highest collection in recent history.
However, barely two days after the declaration by the President, the Federal Government announced plan to borrow a total of $1.75 billion from World Bank to fund key development projects in Nigeria as highlighted in the official data obtained from the bank’s official website.
Reacting to the development in a post on his X handle on Saturday, Melaye collaged the headline pages of where Tinubu declared the revenue increment and the headline of FG’s loan request.
Captioning the post in Yoruba, the ex-lawmaker expressed surprise with the two stories as he labelled Tinubu a grandmaster.
