By Paul Okojie
By any measure, Nigeria is passing through one of the most difficult economic periods in its recent history. Rising inflation, declining purchasing power, unemployment, and a weakening currency have combined to create a harsh reality for millions of citizens. Yet at the very moment when Nigerians are struggling to survive, the federal government under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has chosen to intensify its drive for increased taxation.
At the centre of this controversial fiscal agenda is tax expert Taiwo Oyedele, recently elevated from chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms to Minister of State for Finance. His rise within the administration has been rapid, and his influence over Nigeria’s new tax architecture is undeniable. Is he the Economic Hitman against Nigeria?
To government officials, Oyedele is a reformer tasked with modernizing Nigeria’s weak revenue system. But to many critics, his appointment signals something far more troubling: the emergence of what could be described as an economic hitman within the administration who is an expert deployed to implement policies designed primarily to extract more revenue from an already burdened population. Data from every angle of the Nigeria society is showing increase in poverty, unemployment which is the foundation of insecurity which has increasingly intensified.
Nigeria’s fiscal problems are well known. For decades, the country relied heavily on crude oil revenues while maintaining one of the lowest tax-to-GDP ratios in the world. Governments collected little from taxation, borrowed heavily, and postponed structural reforms and the government is still borrowing while there are no clear plans for the use of these funds.
But the solution now being pursued raises serious questions. Since taking office, the Tinubu administration has implemented a series of sweeping economic policies. The immediate removal of fuel subsidies sent petrol prices soaring. The liberalization of the foreign exchange market triggered a sharp depreciation of the naira. The cost of transportation, food, and basic services rose dramatically.
For ordinary Nigerians, these policies translated into a severe cost-of-living crisis.
Now comes the next phase: aggressive tax reforms designed to increase government revenue across the economy. Under the new framework championed by Oyedele, tax administration will be centralized, compliance tightened, and the national tax net expanded. This will definitely have serious consequences due to the dynamics of the gap between the poor and the rich in Nigeria.
In theory, the objective is to create a modern and efficient revenue system capable of funding national development.
In practice, however, many Nigerians fear the reforms will simply deepen the hardship already facing households and small businesses. With due regards to the manipulation of the law itself when a house of representatives member discovered discrepancies in what was passed in the house and what was signed into law.
Economic reforms do not exist in isolation; they operate within social realities. In advanced economies, tax expansion often occurs alongside strong social safety nets, effective public services, and visible returns for taxpayers. In Nigeria this will an illusion and the reform will target people who in future would want to run for public offices and opposition.
Nigeria offers no such guarantees. Public infrastructure remains inadequate, electricity supply is unreliable, healthcare systems are overstretched, and corruption scandals continue to undermine confidence in government institutions. For many citizens, the question is simple: why should people pay more taxes when government performance remains weak? This shows how insensitive this administration is about their so called tax reforms.
This is the central contradiction of the Tinubu administration’s economic strategy.
By prioritizing fiscal extraction without first restoring public trust in governance, the government risks creating the impression that its reforms are less about national development and more about filling government coffers. This will also be seen as an extortion by the citizens since employment challenges have not been addressed and there is no signal that the government is creating jobs and investing in MSME which helps in cushioning the economic realities of Nigerians.
The danger is not merely economic, it is political. History shows that taxation without visible benefits can quickly erode legitimacy. When citizens feel they are paying more but receiving less, frustration grows, resentment deepens, and political stability becomes fragile. Nigeria’s fragile democracy cannot afford such tensions.
None of this suggests that tax reform is unnecessary. Indeed, Nigeria must eventually build a stronger revenue base if it hopes to finance infrastructure, education, and healthcare for its growing population. Someone must have a plan for 400 million Nigerians and that is sacrosanct.
But reforms must be balanced, humane, and carefully timed. What Nigerians need today is economic relief, job creation, and policies that expand opportunity not a system perceived as taxing poverty. How can a man Lego is not gainfully employed struggling to feed his family without a hope of tomorrow be taxed on his mega revenue simply because he is of taxable age. Then you wonder how this reforms are developed, no consideration for illiterates, unemployed, small businesses who struggle with energy and indebted to loans sharks/apps and bank just to be in business. What about the daily Laborer who earns at the end of the day just to put food on the table.
As Taiwo Oyedele assumes his new ministerial role, he now carries the burden of proving that his reforms will serve the Nigerian people rather than deepen their hardship. We hope a private company owned by the president or his cronies will not be the contractors collecting this revenue from Nigerians bank accounts.
If he succeeds, he may be remembered as a technocrat who helped rescue Nigeria’s fiscal system. But if he fails who should know that there’s a special place waiting for him in one of those places built for those who are not supposed to be walking on the streets, and history may record him very differently as the architect of a taxation regime imposed on a nation already pushed to the edge.
As Nigerians look forward to how this would play out, may the next generation of politicians and leaders understand every action against the will of the people have consequences.
Okojie is a journalist.
