Nigeria’s Tax System Holding Country Back – Oyedele

Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, has declared that Nigeria’s current tax system is unconducive to growth, a development he said is holding the country back.
Oyedele stated that the nation is taxing the poor, low-income earners, and investments instead of creating an enabling environment for an expanded tax net.

“Those taxes are unhelpful and even more compounded by the many agencies collecting them,” Oyedele said at the annual conference of the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) in Abuja.
He also projected Nigeria’s inflation to drop from the current 24.48 percent to a single digit before the end of 2025.

Oyedele said, “The best thing the government can do for its people is to make prosperity a commonplace—shared prosperity.”

LEADERSHIP reports that Oyedele’s Presidential tax committee is proposing a cut in the nation’s total tax rate from over 40 per cent to 25 per cent.

Stating that Nigeria’s tax system is unconducive to growth, Oyedele added that the system is fraught with multiple taxes, taxing agencies, and a high corporate tax burden on businesses.

According to him, Nigeria is currently “taxing poverty, capital, and investments, and using archaic laws and ambiguous provisions.”

Oyedele said Nigeria needs to optimize its revenue sources and that while doing so, the government should “stop taxing poor people or those on the lower rungs.”

He identified corruption and lack of efficient resource management as some of the factors confronting the nation’s development agenda.

“We are very wasteful,” he said.

Oyedele, however, admitted that the government’s tough policy decisions, including removing fuel subsidies and floating the Naira, need to translate into concrete results because people are really suffering.

Economic analyst Paul Alaje also said the ongoing tax reform will address major fiscal challenges that have denied the country its rightful place in the global economy.

“This tax bill will help address the ‘japa’ syndrome if it correctly harmonizes the exchange of figures among states,” he said, adding that there has to be an integrated tax system.