IMF Asks Tinubu To Impose Fuel, Telecom Taxes On Nigerians - Politics (3)

IMF Asks Tinubu To Impose Fuel, Telecom Taxes On Nigerians - Politics (3) - Nairaland

Nairaland Forum › Nairaland General › Politics › IMF Asks Tinubu To Impose Fuel, Telecom Taxes On Nigerians (17785 Views)

Poll: Which of these outcomes do you prefer?

Peter Obi should become the president and end hardship. I don't care if he releases Nnamdi Kanu 81% (464 votes)

I'm Yoruba, so I want Tinubu to continue, even if it'll warrant governing our corpses. Tinubu is incompetent and a massive failure, but I'll vote him 10% (58 votes)

Atiku should not govern even if he's competent, because it's the turn of the south 8% (50 votes)

This poll has ended

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Reply (Go Down)

Re: IMF Asks Tinubu To Impose Fuel, Telecom Taxes On Nigerians by MrPresident1: 3:16pm On Jun 14

God want to punish IMF finally

Re: IMF Asks Tinubu To Impose Fuel, Telecom Taxes On Nigerians by ufotunang: 3:17pm On Jun 14

Nigerians this is the taxes they will impose on you if Tinubu wins 2nd term....more and more hunger, hardship, poverty..so Nigerians be careful ...

1 Like

Re: IMF Asks Tinubu To Impose Fuel, Telecom Taxes On Nigerians by WriterX(m): 3:18pm On Jun 14

FuglyGurl:
https://punchng.com/revenue-imf-asks-fg-to-impose-fuel-telecom-taxes/?utm_source=rss.punchng.com&utm_medium=web

The IMF's recommendation may look attractive on paper, but Nigerians must examine what it means in practice and the dangers it carries.

The IMF says taxing fuel, telecom services, and increasing VAT could raise government revenue by about 4.6% of GDP over time. The obvious question is

revenue for what, and at whose expense?

Nigeria has already removed fuel subsidies, resulting in petrol prices increasing by several hundred percent in many areas. Transport costs surged.

Food prices followed. Inflation remains one of the highest in decades. Now the same citizens who absorbed the shock of subsidy removal are being told that fuel products should face additional taxation.

If fuel is taxed further, who ultimately pays? Not oil companies. Not government officials. The final cost will be transferred to transport operators, businesses, farmers, traders, and ultimately the ordinary Nigerian consumer.

The telecom proposal raises equally serious concerns. In today's Nigeria, mobile phones and internet access are no longer luxuries. They are tools for business, education, banking, communication, job searches, and even government services. A telecom excise duty effectively becomes a tax on economic participation itself.

The IMF projects significant revenue gains, but where is the evidence that previous revenue increases have translated into equivalent improvements in citizens' lives?

Since subsidy removal, government revenues and FAAC allocations to states have risen substantially. Yet Nigerians are entitled to ask:

Have public hospitals improved proportionately?

Have public schools improved proportionately?

Has insecurity reduced proportionately?

Has electricity supply improved proportionately?

Have roads improved proportionately?

Has corruption reduced proportionately?

Before demanding more taxes, government must explain what happened to the additional revenues already generated.

Even more revealing is the IMF's own admission that administrative reforms alone could generate roughly 3.1% of GDP through better tax collection, compliance, electronic invoicing, database integration, and enforcement.

So therefore If improved administration can generate almost as much revenue as new taxes, why is the conversation focused on taxing struggling citizens rather than fixing leakages, waste, tax evasion, and inefficiency?

2 Likes

Re: IMF Asks Tinubu To Impose Fuel, Telecom Taxes On Nigerians by TheStoriesOfMan: 3:19pm On Jun 14

UncleAyo:
I don't understand while the kind of threa poll like this above is allowed on this forum

Moderators: Mynd44, fergie001

"I'm Yoruba, so I want Tinubu to continue, even if it'll warrant governing our corpses. Tinubu is incompetent and a massive failure, but I'll vote him" as poll option?

Is is true, yes or no?

Stop disturbing the mods.

Re: IMF Asks Tinubu To Impose Fuel, Telecom Taxes On Nigerians by Inspirer1: 3:20pm On Jun 14

Seun, are these Nairaland "polls" truly polls or they are meant to affirm the OP's views about persons or events??
I'd suggest you subject those polls to moderation.

Cc:
Mynd44
Fergie001

UncleAyo:
I don't understand while the kind of threa poll like this above is allowed on this forum

Moderators: Mynd44, fergie001

"I'm Yoruba, so I want Tinubu to continue, even if it'll warrant governing our corpses. Tinubu is incompetent and a massive failure, but I'll vote him" as poll option?

in fact I am surprised at the kind of "polls" I see on Nairaland, weird stuffs undecided

1 Like

Re: IMF Asks Tinubu To Impose Fuel, Telecom Taxes On Nigerians by westside365: 3:20pm On Jun 14

I like Obi but to be honest no one can end the problems in Nigeria is too big and deeper.

Re: IMF Asks Tinubu To Impose Fuel, Telecom Taxes On Nigerians by hatchy: 3:21pm On Jun 14

Misterone:
Stupid poll! Obi should end hardship how? How is he going to do it? Explain to us! You guys think we've forgotten that he was once a governor and he did nothing in Anambra state. Rubbish.

Premium tears needed for cash out.
1 gallon of tears for 30k cash. Cry more and get a bag of rice as bonus.

Peter Obi the incoming president of Nigeria in 2027, Insha Allah.

Re: IMF Asks Tinubu To Impose Fuel, Telecom Taxes On Nigerians by mukthar2000(m): 3:22pm On Jun 14

Wakaaa to IMF

Re: IMF Asks Tinubu To Impose Fuel, Telecom Taxes On Nigerians by dalass(f): 3:22pm On Jun 14

The poll on this thread is outrageous 😔

Too sensitive and not a poll at all cool

IMF AND WORLD BANK PROFIT FROM ECONOMIC WOES OF NIGERIA IN PARTICULAR. WORST MONETARY fund ever 👎👎

Re: IMF Asks Tinubu To Impose Fuel, Telecom Taxes On Nigerians by dalass(f): 3:24pm On Jun 14

Inspirer1:
Seun, are these Nairaland "polls" truly polls or they are meant to affirm the OP's views about persons or events?

Exactly 💯. That's a rubbish poll

1 Like

Re: IMF Asks Tinubu To Impose Fuel, Telecom Taxes On Nigerians by michoim(m): 3:25pm On Jun 14

Nigerians be warned. Tinubu is only waiting for second term to come when he will start implementing these grievous taxes, and other more tormenting economic policies that he have up his sleeves...

Re: IMF Asks Tinubu To Impose Fuel, Telecom Taxes On Nigerians by Geekhard: 3:25pm On Jun 14

A responsible government would pay whatever is owed to these vultures and then kick them out of Nigeria. These institutions have destroyed nations and would continue to do so. Avoid IMF. Say No to the World Bank!

Re: IMF Asks Tinubu To Impose Fuel, Telecom Taxes On Nigerians by Reference(m): 3:25pm On Jun 14

nairalanda1:
Tinubu should listen to the IMF and do it, and if he doesn't , whoever is taking over should listen to the IMF and do it, alongside fighting corruption

I know people will abuse me, and will call me names for my opinion, so let me drop some facts.

Our budget this year is: 68 trillion naira

Actual revenue available to fund this budget is : 33 trillion naira
Deficit: 29 trillion naira...and to cover that deficit, that is where the loans come in.

Yes, oil revenue rose, but remember that we have a debt of about 150 trillion naira to pay for.

People like to abuse me on this site and call me agbadoe, but if it was Peter Obi, or Atiku in charge, based on what I know, I would give them the same advice. We all shout that we want government to stop borrowing, but when it comes to measures to stop borrowing, we suddenly become allergic to good advice

Tinubu is a bad leader, and I am not voting for him next year, by the way.

Nigeria has had this deficit problem for decades. Everytime earnings do not meet up with the budget, meaning we have to borrow. This is because of the fact that we rely on resources WHOSE PRICES WE DO NOT SET. We cannot set oil above the international price to fund our budget because our buyers will go and meet the cheaper option. Back when we had cotton, cocoa, palm oil, same thing. (Ghana some years ago raised prices of its cocoa to meet up with budget funding and buyers went to other countries, Nigeria included, to buy cheaper stuff).

Most of the rich and poor do not pay taxes, only people in formal employment pay PAYE taxes, and revenue from VAT was about 8 trillion naira , plus revenue from bank charges was around 4 trillion naira...for this budget.

And the 68 trillion naira is not enough for a nation of 230 million people. You can abuse me, but we are too big for the budget. And that budget is the money available before stealing and looting happens.

Y'all can abuse me, but we have to face cold reality.

Either we start listening to the IMF and fighting corruption, as well as improving taxation, or else, even if we vote Obi tomorrow, as i hope we all do, or Atiku tomorrow, or even Sowore, I guarantee that our debt would be 800 trillion naira in eight years time.

You are free to abuse me and call me names now, thank you. I no longer care.

If una no wan hear, then that means you should stop complaining about borrowing, because refusal to support improved taxation and anti-corruption measures means you support borrowing.

Again, I am voting for Obi next year, and in reality, I don't care about all your politicans. IF Obi fails, out he goes in four years, and so forth, until we get sane leadership. Maybe we go wait till the debt is 10000 trillion naira before we get our own MIlliei and LKY...it took Argentina to get into such severe debt that it was defaulting on payments, for them to wake up. Now their currency is strong and fiscal performance better, and eventually other areas will improve.

Governance does not require all this stress and strain, all the fears of abuse and recrimination. It requires openness, solidarity. Participatory governance via the instrumentality of functional institutions is the key.

You make FOI and it works. You make a budget to do a thing but it costs more money than you have and you go to the people with open arms and open books and an open mind.

They are bound to accept to pay more if they understand the value of what you are doing, if they can see it profits them and if they are assured no one is inordinately profiting from their sacrifice.

Reduce the way you govern to that of any association on the streets where people vote to do things having fully understood the books, and their associated obligations. When the people say no, you stop and change or cancel your plans. That is participatory governance.

So it is not only about corruption. It is about the way politics is played and the country is governed. People in general think their participation starts and ends with electing leadership into office but when the bill comes as the IMF is pressing they then realise they should be rather be at the negotiating table instead of at the golf course.

Re: IMF Asks Tinubu To Impose Fuel, Telecom Taxes On Nigerians by Daguccizgreat(m): 3:28pm On Jun 14

Misterone:
Stupid poll! Obi should end hardship how? How is he going to do it? Explain to us! You guys think we've forgotten that he was once a governor and he did nothing in Anambra state. Rubbish.

You're shallow and uninformed. That's all I can tell you

Re: IMF Asks Tinubu To Impose Fuel, Telecom Taxes On Nigerians by Mario619(m): 3:30pm On Jun 14

Misterone:
Stupid poll! Obi should end hardship how? How is he going to do it? Explain to us! You guys think we've forgotten that he was once a governor and he did nothing in Anambra state. Rubbish.

Oga shit up!!!!! You don't know Anambra State or anything about Peter Obi's achievements and administration!!!!!! This post did not mention Peter Obi but somehow, you needed to masturbate and that's why your rotten mind remembered Obi

Re: IMF Asks Tinubu To Impose Fuel, Telecom Taxes On Nigerians by Konjiboii: 3:31pm On Jun 14

Misterone:
Stupid poll! Obi should end hardship how? How is he going to do it? Explain to us! You guys think we've forgotten that he was once a governor and he did nothing in Anambra state. Rubbish.

Tinubu that was a governor in Lagos, how far? How many things did he actually do or you want to as usual give him credit for the work done by subsequent governors. That man drained Lagos and still have his hands inside the cookie jar but NO you won't talk or feign ignorance of this things. If the only thing Obi will do is curb our wayward and reckless spending and borrowing then my current life and next life will vote aggressively for him.

Re: IMF Asks Tinubu To Impose Fuel, Telecom Taxes On Nigerians by Naustine(m): 3:31pm On Jun 14

Be like na IMF been de advice pharoah that year say make e add more labour to the Israelites oo.

Re: IMF Asks Tinubu To Impose Fuel, Telecom Taxes On Nigerians by symbianDON(m): 3:32pm On Jun 14

BeardedMeat:
His record in Anambra state are online for everyone to go and verify.

What's Tinubu's track record as Lagos governor aside inheriting an already cosmopolitan prosperous state that even warranted him to flatly deny his iragbiji links?

Is it not obvious that tinubu has failed woefully? Even a dog on the ballot would be preferred before tinubu.

1 Like

Re: IMF Asks Tinubu To Impose Fuel, Telecom Taxes On Nigerians by Naustine(m): 3:33pm On Jun 14

Misterone:
Stupid poll! Obi should end hardship how? How is he going to do it? Explain to us! You guys think we've forgotten that he was once a governor and he did nothing in Anambra state. Rubbish.

It's just a poll, don't you think you are overreacting?

Re: IMF Asks Tinubu To Impose Fuel, Telecom Taxes On Nigerians by TemmyT002(m): 3:34pm On Jun 14

Finally, proof that IMF dey craze

1 Like

Re: IMF Asks Tinubu To Impose Fuel, Telecom Taxes On Nigerians by obonujoker(m): 3:35pm On Jun 14

Misterone:
Stupid poll! Obi should end hardship how? How is he going to do it? Explain to us! You guys think we've forgotten that he was once a governor and he did nothing in Anambra state. Rubbish.

Did you ask all these trashy questions when Tinubu or Buhari were contesting?

Re: IMF Asks Tinubu To Impose Fuel, Telecom Taxes On Nigerians by DeepSight(m): 3:38pm On Jun 14

nairalanda1 - oh sing for rapturous joy, surely!

1 Like

Re: IMF Asks Tinubu To Impose Fuel, Telecom Taxes On Nigerians by nairalanda1(m): 3:38pm On Jun 14

givedemwotowoto:
Fight corruption first, trillions are missing from NNPC that could fund the budget. FIRS, Customs and other revenue organizations. Fix the leak first. If you don't have the balls to fight corruption, you shouldn't be President.

FIght corruption and rasing revenue can be done at the same time, otherwise, you might just tell me you support the government borrowing and borrowing to fill the deficit.

Re: IMF Asks Tinubu To Impose Fuel, Telecom Taxes On Nigerians by geoworldedu: 3:39pm On Jun 14

Helinues and Yarimo, why did you do this na? grin

Re: IMF Asks Tinubu To Impose Fuel, Telecom Taxes On Nigerians by Joshcoli(m): 3:39pm On Jun 14

To suggest that Nigeria—a country currently suffocating under a 63% poverty rate, hyperinflation, and a relentless cost-of-living crisis—should introduce more taxes on fuel and telecommunications is not just tone-deaf; it is economically blind and dangerously detached from reality.

If the IMF cannot see the catastrophic human cost of its text-book spreadsheets, then it has lost all economic sanity. Here is the reality the IMF refuses to acknowledge:

1. You Cannot Tax a Starving Population
The Tinubu administration’s aggressive reforms—floating the Naira and removing the fuel subsidy—have already pushed the Nigerian middle class into poverty and the poor into absolute desperation. Food prices are at historic highs, and transportation costs have crippled small businesses. To propose adding VAT to fuel and levying an excise duty on telecom services (the literal lifelines of the informal economy) is an attempt to squeeze blood from a stone. You cannot tax people who can barely afford one meal a day.

2. The Total Disconnect on Insecurity
The IMF looks at numbers; Nigerians look at survival. The current food crisis isn't caused by a lack of tax revenue—it is caused by insecurity. Farmers cannot access their lands due to terrorism and banditry. Businesses are already paying a "heavy private tax" just to provide their own security, electricity, and logistics because the state has failed to provide them. Demanding more tax while failing to guarantee basic safety is a violation of the fundamental contract between a government and its citizens.

3. Squeezing the Poor While Ignoring Government Waste
The IMF argues that the government needs fiscal space. But why must that space be carved out of the pockets of vulnerable citizens while the cost of governance remains obscenely bloated? Before lecturing Nigeria on raising VAT, the IMF should demand accountability for lavish political spending, luxury official fleets, and institutional corruption. Squeezing the masses to fund an unaccountable system is not fiscal policy—it is economic exploitation.

4. The Illusion of "Cash Transfers"
The IMF conveniently adds a caveat that these taxes should only come when a "fully funded cash transfer system" is in place. This is a delusion. Nigeria’s institutional framework is completely unequipped to distribute transparent, effective welfare to over 130 million multi-dimensionally poor people without the funds being swallowed by bureaucracy and corruption.

The Bottom Line:
The IMF’s 2026 Article IV report reads like a technical manual written for a laboratory, not a nation of living, breathing, suffering human beings. Pushing these recommendations right now is a recipe for nationwide chaos and social collapse. It is time for international financial institutions to stop treating human survival as a math equation. Nigeria is stretched to its absolute breaking point—do not push it over the edge.

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Re: IMF Asks Tinubu To Impose Fuel, Telecom Taxes On Nigerians by Mikeolamzy: 3:39pm On Jun 14

Shey ori IMF pe bayii?

Ninu gbogbo rogbandiyan yi

1 Like

Re: IMF Asks Tinubu To Impose Fuel, Telecom Taxes On Nigerians by Eriokanmi: 3:39pm On Jun 14

Same IMF will come tomorrow and complain that there's hardship in the land. No wonder a prohiet predicted that 2027 will be too harsh on people. Those defending tinubu will not be able to afford data to come here.

Re: IMF Asks Tinubu To Impose Fuel, Telecom Taxes On Nigerians by OOOKEWALE: 3:42pm On Jun 14

I dont know why @seun is allowing this kind of poll on Nairaland. This poll reeks of tribal sentiments and bigotry.

Re: IMF Asks Tinubu To Impose Fuel, Telecom Taxes On Nigerians by kwenu: 3:43pm On Jun 14

Tinubu is being used and Nigeria is being shitted on because you have compromised leadership. I pray the Yorubas are learning something

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