The Federal Government spent N9.39 trillion on wage adjustments, minimum wage increases and allowances for public servants between June 2023 and December 2025, Finance Minister Taiwo Oyedele has said.
Oyedele disclosed this on Wednesday at a press conference in Abuja on the financial impact of the economic reforms introduced by President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
He said the amount spent on higher wages exceeded the Federal Government’s entire share of resources generated from the removal of the petrol subsidy.
According to him, the Federal Government received N5.4 trillion from the N15.8 trillion mobilised for the federation through petrol subsidy removal and foreign exchange reforms during the period. States and local governments received the remaining N10.4 trillion.
Oyedele said the reforms, alongside additional revenue and borrowing, provided the Federal Government with N20.4 trillion in incremental resources, while its incremental expenditure stood at N30.64 trillion.
He said N9.37 trillion was spent on external debt servicing, while N6.5 trillion went into strategic infrastructure.
The minister noted that the increase in wage expenditure reflected measures introduced to cushion Nigerians from the impact of the petrol subsidy removal, which triggered higher fuel prices and increased household and business costs.
He acknowledged that the reforms had imposed significant costs on Nigerians, saying the government was not pretending otherwise.