Fact-Checking Bola Tinubu’s Claims: A Fair Analysis

Recently, the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate and former Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu, was a guest at the Nigerian Economic Summit Group’s (NESG) Summit House.

At the presidential dialogue, he discussed his economic agenda and plans for the Nigerian economy if elected president.

It is important to look into his claims and measure their veracity, and this is why a fact-check of Tinubu’s statements is necessary.

Regarding Mr Tinubu’s claim that Lagos state has the fifth largest economy in Africa, this cannot be verified.

In 2021, Lagos Bureau of Statistics found that its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was N26.5 trillion; with the official exchange rate of N445, this is equivalent to $59.7 billion.

Nigeria’s $440 billion GDP makes it the largest economy in Africa, followed by South Africa and Egypt.

In this case, Lagos is actually the twelfth largest economy.

Moreover, Tinubu asserted that Lagos generated N600 million in revenue in 1999, yet data from the Central Bank of Nigeria, The Cable (Lagos-based online newspaper) and The Guardian revealed the total Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) for that year was N14.6 billion, which is equivalent to $1.2 monthly.

Furthermore, when Tinubu left office in 2007, the IGR had grown to N83.02 billion, which translates to $6.9 billion monthly.

Tinubu also stated that Lagos generated N753 billion IGR in 2021, representing 40% of Nigeria’s total IGR.

This information was confirmed by the National Bureau of Statistics.

In 2020, N660 billion IGR was generated, while in 2019 it was N646 billion, averaging N56 billion each month between those two years.

Additionally, Tinubu claimed that Nigeria’s majority population is made up of young people.

This is correct.

According to the 2020 United Nations data, have a population estimated at 206 million, making it the most populous country in Africa and the seventh in the world.

It also has a median age of 18.1, and 70% of the population is under 30, and 42% are under 15.

In conclusion, although Tinubu’s statement on Lagos’ GDP were false, most of his other claims were accurate.

Despite this, it serves as an example of how important it is to always fact-check the statements made by political candidates.

Credit: https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/583799-fact-checking-claims-made-by-bola-tinubu-at-nesg-dialogue.html

ENND