Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, has said that the new Tax Act is not just about raising revenue but building trust among members of the Nigerian public.
He spoke virtually at the opening of the 2026 Annual Conference of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (COTN) in Abuja on Tuesday.
Mr. Oyedele said that while the government desired to generate more revenue, that objective could only be achieved through building trust among the people to see the importance of paying taxes for the good of all.
He said that the current tax regime had simplified tax payment, reduced the number of taxes and exempted low-income earners from payment of Personal Income Tax.
Oyedele charged the tax professionals to play the roles of advisors to the government, interpret the new tax laws to their clients and members of the public.
In his remarks, the Special Adviser to the President on Economic Matters in the Office of the Vice President, Dr. Tope Fashua, said fiscal policies need to constantly evolve.
His words, “Given recent events around the world, there is a need for government to be very prepared and for fiscal policies to continue to evolve.”
He noted that the fiscal reform was a process, adding, “It’s not going to be a walk in the park. It’s not going to be an easy affair; if it was, it would have been done a long time ago. So people will still complain about multiple taxation, levies from local government and all of that.
“I’m sure it still costs a lot to ship, to move a trailer from Kano to Lagos Port carrying commodities—many stoppages along the way.
“But the process has started to outlaw some of those collections. And of course, we also depend on Nigerians because again, those who are collecting this unnecessary money are also Nigerians. So we have to appeal to ourselves. We also have to be watchdogs.”
Fashua said there was a need to vigorously undertake a public awareness campaign around the new Tax Act, saying, “There’s an information lacuna, and in my own personal interactions in recent times, I was with a group of very young people who did not know that the tax reforms were good for them.
“So it takes time to be able to explain over and over again. In my other life as a marketer, we understand that it takes an average of five times to talk to somebody about an idea before it begins to sink in.”
The Special Adviser said the idea was to move Nigeria’s tax-to-GDP ratio from 10 per cent to 18 per cent, explaining that it used to be 6 per cent about three years ago.
Dr. Fashua disclosed that the government planned to reduce Company Income Tax from the current 30 per cent to 25 per cent.
In his address, the CITN President, Innocent Ohagwa, said this year’s conference theme was particularly significant because it directly focused on the most important tasks of “building a tax system that is globally relevant, economically competitive, socially equitable, and fiscally sustainable.”
His words, “I consider this conference to be one of the most strategic to Nigeria’s future. We are living in a period of profound economic transformation across the world. Economies are becoming increasingly digital.
“Capital is more mobile. Supply chains are changing. The government faces rising pressure to finance development sustainably.
“At the same time, citizens are rapidly demanding greater accountability, fairness, transparency, and better public services.
“In this environment, tax systems no longer remained static. Countries that fail to modernise their fiscal framework risk losing competitiveness, discouraging investment, widening inequality, and weakening economic resilience.
“These are risks Nigeria cannot afford to take and opportunities we cannot afford to lose. Nigeria must therefore position itself not only to respond to global changes but to compete effectively within them.”
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