The chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, has said that he has received threats to his life for driving Nigeria’s ongoing tax reform agenda.
Speaking in Abuja on Tuesday at a governance colloquium held to mark the 50th birthday of the Special Adviser to the President on Policy and Coordination, Hadiza Bala-Usman, Oyedele said implementing deep fiscal reforms in a system resistant to change requires exceptional courage.
“Reforms are hard, and tax reforms are even harder. You need courage. I receive threats simply for trying to fix a broken system,” he stated.
Oyedele described Nigeria’s tax structure as long overdue for overhaul, noting that weak public trust, poor tax compliance culture, and widespread misunderstanding remain key obstacles.
“There is suddenly a national awareness, and people say the government has brought taxes all over the place, when in fact what we are doing is reducing the taxes they have been paying and harmonising them,” he explained.
He urged Nigerians who support the reforms to speak up rather than allow critics to dominate public discourse.
Trust is the most critical challenge,” he said. “Many Nigerians misunderstand the reforms, believing new taxes are being imposed when existing levies are being reduced and harmonised.”
Oyedele admitted that the reform process carries significant political, economic, and reputational risks, but stressed that bold decisions were necessary to fix decades of dysfunction.
“You need the courage to push through. You need the courage to take risks, because it’s very risky,” he added.
Despite facing online abuse and personal threats, the committee chairman defended the government’s approach, likening past tax policies to temporary fixes that failed to deliver lasting change.
“What we have been doing all my adult life with the tax system was a pain reliever. It hasn’t taken us far. Now we’re doing the surgery. It will come with pain, but it is the only right thing to do,” he said.
Oyedele expressed optimism about Nigeria’s fiscal future, describing the current reform momentum as “unprecedented”and urging citizens to stay the course for long-term stability.
LEADERSHIP reports that the Federal Government began enforcement of its new tax regime on January 1, 2026, following the passage of four major bills into laws, namely; the Nigeria Tax Act 2025, Nigeria Tax Administration Act 2025, Nigeria Revenue Service Establishment Act 2025, and Joint Revenue Board Establishment Act 2025.
“We are fixing what has been broken for decades,” Oyedele concluded. “It’s painful, but it’s progress.”
(Leadership)
