The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has faulted the five percent petrol tax imposed by the Federal Government, and the 300 percent hike in passport fees, describing them as cruel policies that punish struggling Nigerians, pushing more people into poverty, while the government celebrates revenue collection.
ADC in a statement by the interim National Publicity Secretary Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, also accused President Bola Tinubu’s administration of deception, and said the administration is feeding Nigerians with false revenue claims.
The ADC noted that the introduction of the petrol tax by the All Progressives Congress (APC) led Federal Government is coming at a time when the majority of Nigerians are still reeling from the effects of fuel subsidy removal.
The party added that instead of the new tax, the least Nigerians deserve is interventions to mitigate the impact of subsidy removal, not an additional tax that will further burden them.
It added that “as if this were not enough, the government has also increased the cost of obtaining a Nigerian international passport by 300 percent, making it one of the most expensive in the world.”
The party drew a parallel with the United Kingdom, noting that while a passport costs just five percent of the minimum monthly wage in UK, it is 143 percent of the minimum wage in Nigeria.
“This is what governance has been reduced to under President Tinubu, taxing the very survival of the people, monetising hardship, and celebrating suffering as success.
“From fuel taxes to passport price hikes, every policy seems designed to push Nigerians further into poverty, while a privileged few at the top live in excess and comfort.
“A government that constantly takes from the people while lying to them is not governing, it is exploiting,” the party said.
ADC said the numbers being paraded by the APC led Federal Government as revenue collection are unrealistic, arguing that “when measured on a pro-rata basis for January to August or against the full-year target, the shortfall becomes even more glaring.
“This exposes the hollowness of the claims by government and also reveals these so-called revenue achievements for what they truly are: another act in the APC and President Tinubu’s propaganda performance.”
According to the party, despite government’s claim of meeting revenue targets, there is a N21.22 trillion shortfall between the 2025 budget projection and actual collections, and wondered why the government would continues to borrow despite its claims of record revenue.
It recalled that when the 2025 budget was
passed, it projected a total revenue of N41.81 trillion, but noted that while the Federal Government is celebrating the mobilisation of N20.59 trillion, there is a shortfall of N21.22 trillion.“Put in perspective, this would mean an average revenue of N3.48 trillion per month, totaling N27.87 trillion for the first eight months of the year.
“Is the government then claiming to have surpassed N27.87 trillion, or, even more incredulously, the full N41.81 trillion projection already? These figures simply do not add up,” the party stated.
ADC disclosed that the Federal Government only receives 52.68 percent of statutory revenue, while its share of value added tax (VAT) is just 15%.
“So, even by the most optimistic assumptions, the numbers being paraded are unrealistic,” he said.
ADC added that President Tinubu’s claim that the exchange rate, when he took office on May 29, 2023, was N1,900 to a dollar, but it is now N1,450, is also false.
“A simple Google search will show that on the morning President Tinubu was sworn in, the naira traded at approximately N460.72 to the US dollar, and between N700 and N800 in the parallel market.
“The reality is that under President Tinubu’s watch, the naira has lost more than 50 percent of its value, wiping out savings and leaving ordinary Nigerians to bear the brunt through skyrocketing food prices, soaring rents, and suffocating transport costs,” the party stated.
According to the statement President Tinubu claim that the government has stopped local borrowing, is not true, recalling that on August 26, 2025, the Debt Management Office announced that it raised N136.16 billion through a Federal Government bond auction.
“This is apart from the $21 billion loan hurriedly approved by the National Assembly in July without any details of its purpose, bringing the national debt stock to $120 billion or N180 trillion, the highest in Nigeria’s history,” ADC said.
It wondered why the government is still borrowing if revenues are truly being met.
ADC stated that instead of improving lives of Nigerians, the APC government is punishing “the very people it was elected to serve through policy choices that allow it to claim economic progress while condemning the majority to abject poverty.
“For avoidance of doubt, despite all claims of economic stability, Nigeria remains the poverty capital of the world.
“This fact alone should humble any serious government.
“Nigeria cannot continue to function on the APC’s endless propaganda mixed with everyday punishments.”
