Presidency slams ‘arithmetic of illusion’ in viral economic critiques
The Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Tanimu Yakubu
Abdullateef Fowewe
The Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Tanimu Yakubu, has dismantled what he calls the “arithmetic illusion” fueling Nigeria’s heated economic debates.
Yakubu’s press release on Sunday, titled “Tinubunomics and the Arithmetic of Illusion,” accuses critics of blurring critical distinctions in public finance.
“At the core of most viral critiques of Tinubunomics lies a fundamental failure to distinguish between revenue, cash, and financing, and between federation-wide collections and federal budgetary resources.
“These are not technicalities. They are the foundation of public finance,” he wrote.
He detailed a common pattern in social media outrage: lumping tax collections, oil receipts, customs duties, borrowings, and “subsidy savings” into inflated totals like ₦150 trillion or more, then demanding “where did the money go?” Yakubu countered, “The answer is straightforward: much of it never existed in the form being implied.”
On subsidy reform, he clarified it doesn’t create instant cash windfalls.
“Subsidy reform does not conjure discretionary cash. It closes a hole,” he stated, noting benefits emerge gradually through reduced deficits and targeted support, not a “sudden pile of spendable ‘savings.’”
Yakubu also addressed debt spikes, attributing much of the naira-denominated rise to exchange-rate revaluations of existing dollar debts, not new borrowing – a “category error” often mistaken for scandal.
He emphasised federation revenues are shared across government tiers, not solely federal spendable funds.
Defending Tinubunomics as a “macro-fiscal reset” amid inherited constraints like debt service and security costs, Yakubu urged proper scrutiny, “Examine federal retained revenue; separate it clearly from financing; track expenditure across debt service, personnel, capital, and transfers; and then assess outputs—roads built, power delivered, rail extended, schools and clinics rehabilitated.”
“Those who insist on treating national finance as a household ledger will always find scandal where none exists.
“Accountability does not begin with social media addiction. It starts with audit logic,” he added.
The release calls for fiscal discipline over “theatrical arithmetic,” positioning Tinubunomics as structural reform, not a promise of quick riches.
