Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, has said that the current tax laws in Nigeria are stifling the country’s economic growth.
He made the remark at the inaugural Economic Roundtable/2025 macroeconomic outlook event of rating firm Agusto & Co., held in Lagos.
“We found that Nigeria’s tax system is unconducive for growth. We are trying to grow, but we’re struggling, and the tax system is holding us down. It has plenty of taxes and taxing agencies everywhere you turn.
“It doesn’t matter whether you’re small or big, whether you are formal or informal; we tax anything and everything that moves. If it keeps moving, we tax it even again. We tax it even more. We’re speaking to small business owners, and one woman said something to me that I will not forget. She said that it feels like the Nigerian system and the government are feasting on businesses,” Oyedele stated.
The committee chairman further challenged anyone who wants to do a social experiment to just do a banner advertising any business that comes to mind, sit back, watch and see what will happen within two days.
“I promise you, at least five agencies will show up, from business premises to advert levy to permit. You have not even found one customer. One of my hopes and dreams for this country is that in my lifetime, you put up that banner and you receive calls from different government agencies, one asking you whether you know about credit facilities for your sector. We have this capacity development for people doing your business. Would you be interested? Do you need any access to this and that? Let’s support ourselves to prosper,” he added.
On the foreign exchange, he maintained that the fiscal authorities were in good stead to handle the situation, but it wasn’t a popular idea.
“Even this whole idea of the parallel market running away from the official market, I think that is a problem that fiscal can fix, although that proposal is not very popular. Now, you see, if we impose a tax on any premium you have in the parallel market, and I say today, anytime you go to the parallel market, any premium you earn above the official rate is your excess tax, and you must pay within seven days. What I’ve done is I’ve taken away because this parallel and official market thing is a bigger danger than naira volatility, and you can fix that problem permanently with fiscal policy, but then people will bring politics into it anyway. I think we’ll get there,” Oyedele added.
Managing Director of Agusto & Co., Yinka Adelekan, in her address noted that we are at a pivotal moment in history where there are disruptions to globalisation, technological innovation, sustainability, and geopolitical shifts that intercept in ways that would shape our collective future and national development.
Renowned economist Dr Doyin Salami called for efficient and effective spending by the government, lamenting the instability of the economy.
