Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, has said the government will introduce fuel taxes when the economy stabilises and Nigerians’ income levels can accommodate the additional costs.
Oyedele said the government’s immediate priority was to complete ongoing economic reforms, stabilise the economy and restore growth before introducing the taxes.
He made the remarks during an exclusive interview with ARISE News on the sidelines of the 2026 International Monetary Fund and World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok, Thailand.
The minister explained that introducing fuel taxes immediately after the removal of petrol subsidies would place additional pressure on Nigerians.
“You remove subsidy, you can’t immediately impose taxes. That would be insensitive. You push the people to the wall,” he said.
Oyedele noted that fuel taxes were common in other countries, with many African nations imposing multiple taxes on petroleum products.
“Now, if you look across the world, between 20 to 80% of price is taxes. Many of the countries in Africa have between six to 10 different taxes on fuel products,” he said.
However, he explained that Nigeria needed to stabilise its economy and improve household incomes before adopting a similar approach.
“So, for us, it’s complete the reform, stabilise the economy, bring growth back… I think it happens everywhere in the world, people say, oh, it used to be, in the past, I could go to London with 200 Naira. Oh, I could buy a new car for 2,000 Naira. You see, why were all the people in Nigeria not buying the cars at that time? What is really important is not the price of what you’re buying.
“It is how much income you are earning, right? The objective should be that whatever, instead of trying to suppress prices, which hasn’t worked for us, it hasn’t worked for any country in the world, but not one, instead of trying to suppress prices, think about how to grow income faster than prices rise. Prosperity and grow the middle class, and that’s exactly what we are doing as led by Mr. President himself,” he said.
Oyedele said the proposed taxes would be introduced when economic conditions improved sufficiently to enable Nigerians to absorb the additional costs.
“So, at the appropriate time, when the economy has stabilised, and income level would be able to accommodate it, then those taxes will come,” he said.
He explained that the revenue generated would be directed towards infrastructure development and the establishment of fuel reserves that could help cushion the impact of future price shocks.
“Not because we want to impose taxes, it will be because those amounts of taxes will be dedicated into road infrastructure, they’ll be dedicated into building our fuel reserve, that can help us moderate prices of fuel products, if anything happens,” he said.
The minister added that the taxes could also provide the government with a mechanism to respond to future disruptions in the petroleum market.
“But those things will always happen, right? And then, it will become as a buffer, so that should there be anything next time, you can waive the taxes for that period to bring the stock up. This is what more than 50 countries around the world, they were reducing the taxes, but we had no taxes, there was nothing to reduce,” he said.
Oyedele further assured Nigerians that the introduction of any fuel tax would follow the legally required process and would not be carried out secretly.
“This is the explanation I can give. The good thing is that the law says that tax cannot come into effect until there’s a gazette. Yeah, there has to be an order published in the gazette by the finance minister, which means we can’t do it in secret.
“Plus, we have no intention of doing stuff in secret, and at the appropriate time, it should be clear to everyone why it needed to be done, and the benefits should be clear also to every Nigerian.”
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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