Politics
PRESENTATION BY PRESIDENT BOLA AHMED TINUBU, GCFR OF THE 2025 BUDGET OF RESTORATION: SECURING PEACE, REBUILDING PROSPERITY TO A JOINT SESSION OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ON WEDNESDAY 18TH DECEMBER, 2024
PRESENTATION BY PRESIDENT BOLA AHMED TINUBU, GCFR
OF THE 2025 BUDGET OF RESTORATION: SECURING PEACE, REBUILDING PROSPERITY TO A JOINT SESSION OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ON WEDNESDAY 18TH DECEMBER, 2024
My Fellow Nigerians,
1. In fulfilment of one of my constitutional duties and with unyielding commitment to rebuilding Nigeria towards ensuring that we remain steadfast on the journey to a prosperous future, I hereby present the 2025 Budget to the Joint Session of the 10th National Assembly.
2. On this day, before this hallowed chamber, I present to you the 2025 Budget at a time when our country is at a crucial point in its development trajectory.
3. The 2025 Budget Proposal again reinforces our administration’s roadmap to secure peace, prosperity, and hope for a greater future for our beloved nation. This budget christened, “Budget of Restoration: Securing Peace, Rebuilding Prosperity,” strikes at the very core of our Renewed Hope Agenda and demonstrates our commitment to stabilizing the economy, improving lives, and repositioning our country for greater performance.
4. The journey of economic renewal and institutional development, which we began 18 months ago as a nation, is very much underway. It is not a journey of our choosing but one we had to embark on for Nigeria to have a real chance at greatness. I thank every Nigerian for embarking on this journey of REFORMS and TRANSFORMATION with us.
5. The road of reforms is now clearly upon us, and as the President of this blessed nation, I know this less-travelled road has not been easy. That there have been difficulties and sacrifices. They will not be in vain. And we must keep faith with the process to arrive at our collectively desired destination.
6. We must build on the progress we have made in the past eighteen months in restructuring our economy and ensuring it is strong enough to withstand the headwinds of any future shocks of the global downturn.
7. The 2025 budget that I present today is one of restoration. It seeks to consolidate the key policies we have instituted to restructure our economy, boost human capital development, increase the volume of trade and investments, bolster oil and gas production, get our manufacturing sector humming again and ultimately increase the competitiveness of our economy.
8. We do not intend to depart from this critical path to strengthen the Nigerian economy. Just as I believe in the resilience of our economy to withstand the current challenges, I also strongly believe in the resilience of the Nigerian people. Again, I summon the unstoppable Nigerian spirit to lead us on as we work to rebuild the fabric of our economy and existence.
9. The improvements we witnessed in the 2024 budget have led us into the 2025 budget. The goals of advancing national security, creating economic opportunities, investing in our youthful population, infrastructure development, and national re-orientation form the core of the 2025 budget. But more than that, this will lay a solid foundation for Nigeria’s future growth trajectory.
CURRENT ECONOMIC REALITIES AND PROGRESS
10. Distinguished Senate President, Right Honourable Speaker of the House of Representatives, leaders and members of both Chambers of the National Assembly, I report today that our economy is responding positively to stimulus. Our objective is to further stimulate the economy through the implementation of targeted fiscal stimulus packages through public expenditures and specific non-inflationary spending.
11. The reforms we have instituted are beginning to yield results. Nigerians will soon experience a better and more functional economy.
12. Global economic growth for the outgoing year 2024 was projected at 3.2 percent, and against predictions, our country made significant progress.
o Our economy grew by 3.46 percent in the third quarter of 2024, up from 2.54 percent in the third quarter of 2023.
o Our Foreign Reserves now stand at nearly 42 billion US dollars, providing a robust buffer against external shocks.
o Our rising exports are reflected in the current trade surplus, which now stands at 5.8 trillion naira, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
13. These clear results of gradual recovery, among others, reflect the resilience of our economy and the impact of deliberate policy choices we made from the outset.
2024 BUDGET PERFORMANCE
14. I am happy to inform this National Assembly that our administration attained remarkable milestones in implementing the 2024 Budget. In 2024, we achieved:
o 14.55 trillion naira in revenue, meeting 75 percent of our target as of the third quarter.
o 21.60 trillion naira in expenditure, representing 85 percent of our target, also in the third quarter.
15. While challenges persist, we improved revenue collection and fulfilled key obligations. The transformational effects of this on our economy are gradually being felt.
PHILOSOPHY OF THE 2025 BUDGET
16. The 2025 Budget seeks to:
o Restore macroeconomic stability.
o Enhance the business environment.
o Foster inclusive growth, employment, and poverty reduction.
o Promote equitable income distribution and human capital development.
17. Our budgetary allocations reflect the administration’s strategic priorities, especially in the implementation of the Renewed Hope Agenda and its developmental objectives.
2025 BUDGET OVERVIEW
18. The numbers for our 2025 budget proposal tell a bold and exciting story of the direction we are taking to retool and revamp the socio-economic fabric of our society.
o In 2025, we are targeting 34.82 trillion naira in revenue to fund the budget.
o Government expenditure in the same year is projected to be 47.90 trillion naira, including 15.81 trillion naira for debt servicing.
o A total of 13.08 trillion naira, or 3.89 percent of GDP, will make up the budget deficit.
19. This is an ambitious but necessary budget to secure our future.
20. The Budget projects inflation will decline from the current rate of 34.6 percent to 15 percent next year, while the exchange rate will improve from approximately 1,700 naira per US dollar to 1,500 naira, and a base crude oil production assumption of 2.06 million barrels per day (mbpd).
21. These projections are based on the following observations:
o Reduced importation of petroleum products alongside increased export of finished petroleum products.
o Bumper harvests, driven by enhanced security, reducing reliance on food imports.
o Increased foreign exchange inflows through Foreign Portfolio Investments.
o Higher crude oil output and exports, coupled with a substantial reduction in upstream oil and gas production costs.
KEY PRIORITIES: REBUILDING NIGERIA
22. Our budgetary allocations underscore this administration’s strategic priorities, particularly in advancing the Renewed Hope Agenda and achieving its developmental objectives.
23. Highlights of the 2025 Budget Allocations:
• Defence and Security: N4.91 trillion
• Infrastructure: N4.06 trillion
• Health: N2.48 trillion
• Education: N3.52 trillion
24. As we embark on implementing the 2025 Budget, our steps are deliberate, our decisions resolute, and our priorities are clear. This budget reflects a renewed commitment to strengthening the foundation of a robust economy, while addressing critical sectors essential for the growth and development we envision.
Securing Our Nation:
25. Security is the foundation of all progress. We have significantly increased funding for the military, paramilitary, and police forces to secure the nation, protect our borders, and consolidate government control over every inch of our national territory. The government will continue to provide our security forces with the modern tools and technology they need to keep us safe. Boosting the morale of our men and women in the armed forces will remain our government’s top priority.
26. The officers, men, and women of our Armed Forces and the Nigerian Police Force are the shields and protectors of our nation. Our administration will continue to empower them to defeat insurgency, banditry, and all threats to our sovereignty. Our people should never live in fear—whether on their farmlands, highways or cities. By restoring peace, we restore productivity, revive businesses, and rebuild our communities.
Infrastructure Development:
27. When we launched the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Development Fund, it was with the conviction that infrastructure remains the backbone of every thriving economy. Under this programme, we are accelerating investments in energy, transport, and public works. By leveraging private capital, we hope to complete key projects that drive growth and create jobs. We have already embarked on key legacy projects: Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and Sokoto-Badagry Highway, which will have a huge impact on the lives of our people and accelerate economic output.
Human Capital Development:
28. Our people are our greatest resource. That is why we are making record investments in education, healthcare, and social services:
o Our administration has so far disbursed 34 billion naira to over 300,000 students via the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFUND). In the 2025 Budget, we have made provision for 826.90 billion naira for infrastructure development in the educational sector. This provision also includes those for the Universal Basic Education (UBEC) and the nine new higher educational institutions.
o We are convinced that Universal Health Coverage initiatives will strengthen primary healthcare systems across Nigeria. In this way, we have allocated 402 billion naira for infrastructure investments in the health sector in the 2025 Budget and another 282.65 billion naira for the Basic Health Care Fund. Our hospitals will be revitalised with medication and better resources, ensuring quality care for all Nigerians. This is consistent with the Federal Government’s planned procurement of essential drugs for distribution to public healthcare facilities nationwide, improving healthcare access and reducing medical import dependency.
Revitalizing Agriculture:
29. Increasing agricultural production is central to our food security agenda, but insecurity has crippled this vital sector. We are supporting our farmers with funding and inputs to reignite productivity. Food security is non-negotiable. In this regard, we are taking bold steps to ensure that every Nigerian can feed conveniently, and none of our citizens will have to go to bed hungry.
30. Distinguished Senate President, Right Honourable Speaker of the House of Representatives, leaders and members of both Chambers of the National Assembly and fellow Nigerians, our 2025 budget proposal is not just another statement on projected government revenue and expenditures. It is one that calls for action.
31. Our nation faces existential threats from corruption and insecurity and suffers from many past poor choices. These challenges are surmountable when we work collaboratively to overcome them. We must rewrite the narrative of this nation together, with every leader, institution, and citizen playing their part.
32. The time for lamentation is over. This is a time to act. A time to support and promote greater investment in the private sector. A time for our civil servants to faithfully execute our policies and programmes. It is a time for every Nigerian to look hopefully towards a brighter future because a new day has dawned for us as a nation.
33. As your President, I remain committed and resolute to continue to lead the charge.
34. This 2025 budget proposal lays the foundation for peace, prosperity, and much needed hope. It is the plan through which a Nigeria where every citizen can dream, work, and thrive in safety can be achieved.
35. It is with great pleasure, therefore, that I lay before this distinguished Joint Session of the National Assembly the 2025 Budget of the Federal Government of Nigeria titled “The Restoration Budget: Securing Peace, Rebuilding Prosperity.
36. May God bless our Armed Forces and keep them safe. May God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Thank you.
Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR
President, Commander-in-Chief of The Armed Forces,
Federal Republic of Nigeria
Politics
Ndigbo are no longer spectators in the Nigerian project- Minister Dave Umahi dismisses calls for Biafra under Tinubu’s administration
The Minister of Works, David Umahi, says the all-inclusive style of governance being practiced by President Bola Tinubu has made the agitation for Biafra an unnecessary clamour.
While speaking at the inspection of the Enugu-Anambra road last Saturday, December 13, Umahi said the Tinubu administration had given Ndigbo what they had sought for decades, not through secession, but through what he described as unprecedented inclusion in national governance and development.
He explained that the agitation for Biafra was historically driven by neglect, exclusion and underrepresentation at the federal level, but insisted that the situation had changed under the current administration.
“When a people are fully integrated, respected and empowered within the structure of the nation, the dream they once chased through agitation has already been achieved through cooperation.
The push for Biafran secession over the years was borne out of neglect, exclusion and underrepresentation but today the narrative has changed dramatically under President Bola Tinubu.
The President has deliberately opened the doors of national development to the South-East. Appointments, policy inputs and infrastructure priorities now reflect true federal balance.
Every sector now bears visible Igbo footprints. The emergence of Igbo sons and daughters in strategic positions is a testament to this inclusion.
Biafra was never about breaking Nigeria; it was about being counted in Nigeria. Through inclusion, equity and concrete development, Ndigbo are no longer spectators in the Nigerian project; they are co-authors of its future. When justice finds a people, agitation loses its voice.”he said
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has announced a 90-day nationwide membership mobilisation, revalidation, and registration exercise as part of preparations for its internal party activities ahead of 2026.
The party also approved provisional dates for its congresses and the election of delegates at the polling unit, ward, and local government levels across the country.
In circulars issued by its national secretary, Rauf Aregbesola, the ADC said the congresses are expected to hold between January 20 and January 27, 2026.
The process, the party said, will lead to the emergence of delegates who will participate in its non-elective national convention scheduled for February 2026 in Abuja.
A statement by Bolaji Abdullahi, national publicity secretary of the party, said the decisions were reached at a meeting of the national working committee (NWC) held on November 27, 2025.
Abdullahi said the timetable and activities were approved in line with the resolutions of the NWC and in accordance with relevant provisions of the party’s constitution.
The ADC said further details on the membership exercise, congresses, and convention will be communicated to party members and stakeholders in due course.
Imo State’s inability to sustain political succession from one elected governor to another is not accidental. It is the consequence of recurring structural failures rooted in elite conspiracy, federal power realignments, internal party implosions, zoning sensitivities, and the perennial arrogance of incumbency. From Achike Udenwa to Ikedi Ohakim and Rochas Okorocha, each administration fell victim to a combination of these forces, leaving behind a state where power is never inherited, only contested.
Achike Udenwa’s experience remains the most instructive example of how federal might and elite scheming can dismantle a governor’s succession plan. Governing between 1999 and 2007 under the PDP, Udenwa assumed that the party’s national dominance would guarantee internal cohesion in Imo. Instead, his tenure coincided with one of the most vicious intra-party wars the state has ever witnessed.
The Imo PDP split into two irreconcilable blocs. On one side was Udenwa’s grassroots-driven Onongono Group, powered by loyalists such as Alex Obi and anchored on local structures. On the other was a formidable Abuja faction populated by heavyweight figures including Kema Chikwe, Ifeanyi Araraume, Hope Uzodimma, Tony Ezenna, and others with direct access to federal influence. This was not a clash of personalities alone; it was a struggle over who controlled the levers of power beyond Owerri.
The conflict worsened when Udenwa openly aligned with then Vice President Atiku Abubakar during his bitter feud with President Olusegun Obasanjo. That alignment proved politically fatal. Obasanjo, determined to weaken Atiku’s network nationwide, withdrew federal support from governors perceived as loyal to the vice president. In Imo, the effect was immediate and devastating.
Federal agencies, party organs, and influence channels tilted decisively toward the Kema Chikwe-led Abuja faction. Udenwa lost effective control of the PDP structure, security leverage, and strategic influence. His foot soldiers in the Onongono Group could mobilise locally, but they could not withstand a coordinated assault backed by the centre.
His preferred successor, Charles Ugwu, never gained political altitude. By the time succession became imminent, Udenwa was already a governor without power. Even his later recalculations failed to reverse the tide. The party had slipped beyond his grasp.
The eventual outcome was politically ironic. Ikedi Ohakim emerged governor, backed by forces aligned with the federal establishment, notably Maurice Iwu—his kinsman and then Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Another Udenwa ally, Martin Agbaso, briefly tasted victory, only for his election to be cancelled. The lesson was brutal and unmistakable: without federal alignment, succession in Imo is almost impossible.
Notably, Udenwa’s record in office did not rescue him. Infrastructure development, relative stability, and administrative competence counted for little in the face of elite conspiracy operating simultaneously at state and federal levels. In Imo politics, performance is secondary to power alignment.
Ikedi Ohakim’s tenure presents a different dimension of failure. Unlike Udenwa, he never reached the point of succession planning. His administration was consumed by political survival. From 2007 to 2011, Ohakim governed amid persistent hostility from elites and a rapidly deteriorating public image.
Ohakim has consistently maintained that his downfall was orchestrated. Central to his claim is the allegation that he was blackmailed with a scandal involving the alleged assault of a Catholic priest, Reverend Father Eustace Eke. In a deeply religious state like Imo, the allegation was politically lethal.
Whether the claims were factual or exaggerated mattered less than their impact. The narrative overwhelmed governance, drowned out policy achievements, and turned public opinion sharply against him. Political elites who had midwifed his emergence quickly distanced themselves, sensing vulnerability.
By the 2011 election, Ohakim stood isolated. Party loyalty evaporated, elite cover disappeared, and voter sympathy collapsed. His re-election bid failed decisively. With that loss, any discussion of succession became irrelevant. His experience reinforces a core principle: a governor rejected by the electorate cannot dictate continuity.
*Uzodimma*
Rochas Okorocha’s rise in 2011 appeared to signal a break from Imo’s succession curse. Charismatic, populist, and financially powerful, he commanded party structures and grassroots loyalty. By his second term, he seemed politically unassailable.
Yet Okorocha committed the most consequential succession error in the state’s history. By attempting to impose his son-in-law, Uche Nwosu, as successor, he crossed from political strategy into dynastic ambition. That decision detonated his massive support base in the State overnight.
Imo’s political elites revolted almost unanimously. Party affiliation became secondary to a shared determination to stop what was widely perceived as an attempt to privatise public office. The revolt was elite-driven, strategic, and ruthless.
The zoning factor compounded the crisis. Okorocha hailed from Orlu zone; so did Nwosu. For many Imo voters, the prospect of Orlu retaining power through familial succession was unacceptable. What might have been tolerated as ambition became framed as entitlement.
This time, elite resistance aligned with popular sentiment. The electorate queued behind alternatives not necessarily out of conviction, but out of rejection. Crucially, Emeka Ihedioha emerged governor because Okorocha fatally miscalculated—splitting his base, provoking elite rebellion, and underestimating voter resentment. Okorocha’s formidable structure collapsed under internal rebellion and voter backlash, sealing his failure to produce a successor.
Hope Uzodimma’s current position must be assessed against this turbulent history. At present, the structural indicators are in his favour. He enjoys firm federal backing, controls the APC machinery in the state, and commands the support—or at least the compliance—of most major political elites.
Unlike Udenwa, Uzodimma is aligned with the centre. Unlike Ohakim, he has survived electoral tests. Unlike Okorocha, he has not openly flirted with dynastic politics. On the surface, the succession equation appears favorable.
*Udenwa*
However, Imo’s history cautions against certainty. Elite loyalty in the state is conditional and transactional. It endures only where interests are balanced, ambitions managed, and inclusion sustained. A wrong choice of successor could still provoke elite conspiracy, even if it emerges from within the ruling party.
The opposition remains weak and fragmented, with limited capacity to mobilize mass resistance. Yet voter apathy, now more pronounced than during the Udenwa and Okorocha eras, introduces a new risk. Disengaged electorates are unpredictable and often disruptive.
“Ohakim*
Ultimately, Uzodimma’s challenge is not opposition strength but elite psychology. Suppressed ambitions, if mishandled, can erupt. Succession in Imo has never been about coronation; it is about negotiation.
*Okorocha*
History is unforgiving to governors who confuse incumbency with ownership. Power in Imo is never transferred by decree. As 2027 approaches, the same forces that toppled past succession plans remain alive. Whether Uzodimma avoids their trap will depend not on power alone, but on restraint, balance, and political wisdom.
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