Bismarck Rewane, the Managing Director of Financial Derivatives Company Limited, has called President Bola Tinubu’s goal of hitting a 15% inflation rate by 2025 “aspirational” and “bullish.” 

He shared his thoughts during the Business Morning segment on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily breakfast show on Thursday. 

While presenting the ₦49.7 trillion budget for 2025 to the National Assembly on December 18, 2024, Tinubu expressed hope that Nigeria’s inflation would drop from 34.6% to 15% by 2025. 

However, Rewane believes that the President’s target is a bit unrealistic. He mentioned, “The target is more of an aspiration; realistically, we might see inflation decrease from around 35% to about 27% or 25%. A 15% inflation rate is quite optimistic, but it’s good to have aspirations.”

“We deal in the world of reality and in the world of reality, we see more of 27% to 25%. I would rather bet on that than bet on much more optimistic scenarios,” he said.

Upon Tinubu's inauguration as Nigeria's president in May 2023, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported an inflation rate of 22.41%. By November 2024, this rate surged dramatically to 34.6%, reflecting an increase of over 12%.

Analysts have linked this significant rise to Tinubu's dual policies of eliminating petrol subsidies and unifying foreign exchange rates.