₦airaland Forum

Taiwo Oyedele, Minister of State for Finance, has acknowledged that Nigeria’s new tax reform laws contain errors, assuring that corrective measures are already underway to address the identified issues.

Oyedele made the disclosure while speaking during a fireside chat at the 2026 annual conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Section on Legal Practice, themed “From Policy to Practice: Making Sense of Nigeria’s New Tax Reforms.”


According to a statement from the Fiscal Reforms Committee, he admitted that inconsistencies emerged during the law-making process due to procedural lapses.

Oyedele urged Nigerians to await the outcome of the legislative probe into the alleged discrepancies.

In a social media post on Friday, the Fiscal Reforms Committee said the minister acknowledged “that errors occurred due to manual processes and multiple stages of review” in the drafting and legislative process.

He, however, assured that the issues would be addressed through a proposed Finance Bill aimed at making corrections.

“What we need is a more transparent and reliable legislative process where every version of a law is publicly available,” he said.

Oyedele stressed that enforcement of the tax reforms would not be arbitrary, noting that the policy was anchored on transparency, fairness, and clear intent.

He also emphasised the need to understand the rationale behind tax laws rather than focusing only on their provisions, arguing that policy intent should guide interpretation and implementation.

The minister highlighted inconsistencies in Nigeria’s previous tax regime, particularly disparities between personal and corporate taxation, which he said discouraged business formalisation.

According to him, the new reforms are designed to encourage formalisation of businesses, improve policy consistency, and reduce discretionary practices in tax administration.

Reflecting on past policy shifts, he noted that inconsistent tax proposals had previously affected investor confidence.

“If policies can change overnight, it sends the wrong signal to investors. Consistency is critical,” he said.

On equity in taxation, Oyedele said the new framework protects low-income earners and small businesses, stressing that those earning about N1 million annually and millions of small enterprises should not be overburdened.

“Nearly half of working Nigerians earn less than N70,000 monthly. Taxing them aggressively would be unjust,” he said.

He added that the reforms also remove minimum tax requirements for loss-making businesses, describing the previous approach as taxing capital instead of profit.

Oyedele further called for improved efficiency in revenue utilisation, noting that Nigeria still lags behind countries like South Africa in tax collection performance.

Daily Trust reports that the development follows concerns raised over alleged discrepancies in the gazetted version of the tax laws and those passed by the National Assembly.

On December 17, 2025, Abdussamad Dasuki, a member of the House of Representatives from Sokoto State, had alleged that the versions of the tax laws in circulation differed from what lawmakers passed.

The claim triggered political and institutional tension, prompting the House to set up a special committee to review the discrepancies and reconcile the different versions.

If policies can change overnight, it sends the wrong signal to investors. Consistency is critical,” he said.

givedemwotowoto:
Tinubu literally changed petrol subsidy and naira valuation policies overnight, the biggest killers of Nigeria’s economy and investor confidence

Not only did he destroy Nigeria’s economy, he has made zero effort to fight insecurity or corruption or effect any meaningful reforms like police reform

helinues:
I talk am abi I no talk am. There are so many flops with the new tax law. Imagine Nigeria not having real database of their citizens yet Oyedele was initially claiming he wants to be taxing agbero, prostitute. As how now

It's good he admitted it

givedemwotowoto:
Tinubu literally changed petrol subsidy and naira valuation policies overnight, the biggest killers of Nigeria’s economy and investor confidence

Not only did he destroy Nigeria’s economy, he has made zero effort to fight insecurity or corruption or effect any meaningful reforms like police reform

psalmsjob:
The change of policy on subsidy removal on both petrol and Naira is what actually improved investor confidence and it has boost the economy from fake valuation of Naira and thus "national money laundering" as petrol subsidy.

So it's either you don't understand what the minister meant by overnight policy changes or you're being mischievous. What he meant is that reversing those policy just like that gives a sense of uncertainty to investors who might plan to invest based on the policy and then all of a sudden because of some inconsistency the whole policy is thrown out so they being wondering if that could also happen after they might have invested based on the policy.

Like I have always said high naira value to the dollar will not attract foreign investor nor will a regulated or propped up Naira or petrol.

Image123:
Did he ever say that it was perfect. It's a reform, duh.

givedemwotowoto:
Tinubu literally changed petrol subsidy and naira valuation policies overnight, the biggest killers of Nigeria’s economy and investor confidence

Not only did he destroy Nigeria’s economy, he has made zero effort to fight insecurity or corruption or effect any meaningful reforms like police reform

Doobie:
The Biggest error is that the tax revenue generated is not being effectively utilized toward the benefit of the taxpayers. Instead of improving infrastructure, healthcare, education, and public services, these funds are being diverted for the personal gain of a few individuals, along with their family members and associates.
For any tax system to gain trust and compliance, we must start to see clear, tangible benefits from the taxes paid. Without transparency, accountability, and visible impact, even well-designed tax policies will continue to face resistance and criticism.

1vandragon:
I often wonder how supporters of apc and bat reason.

Even when the incompetence, Deception and lies are so obvious, they still blindly hail bat and insult those who draw attention to the flaws.

shinarambou:
The Petrol subsidy was something Jonathan had already planned, Tinubu was part of the people that protested against it, so no sympathy for the guy.
I believe when he got there, his eye cleared.

The Naira Valuation policy was the most painful, but in the best interest of Nigerians. Because I don't understand how you expect Nigeria to continuously borrow to support a fake exchange rate?

The exchange rate was fake, that's why you had high level of arbitrage and BDCs owners getting rich over night.

A perfect example is those that Got Dollar from CBN, then sold it at black market rate.

The fact that you don't acknowledge or refuse to understand this basic concept is why people will think Tinubu destroyed the economy.

In actual sense, Tinubu prevented a Total collapse of the economy.

iwaeda:
He has used Tax law collect, Ministerial appointment. Yet some people were defending him. Many people that claimed to love Nigeria dont fear God. So embarrassing. Everything under Tinubu is without thought.