Taiwo Oyedele, chairman of the presidential committee on fiscal policy and tax reforms, says that his role in implementing Nigeria’s tax reforms has exposed him to life-threatening situations.
Oyedele made the disclosure on Tuesday in Abuja while speaking at a governance colloquium held to mark the 50th birthday of Hadiza Bala Usman, special adviser to the president on policy and coordination.
He said implementing reforms that disrupt entrenched interests often comes with personal risks and intense resistance.
“Reforms are hard, and tax reforms are even harder. You need courage. I receive threats simply for trying to fix a broken system,” Oyedele said.
He explained that the reform agenda is constrained by deep-seated mistrust in government, weak tax compliance habits and limited public understanding of the fiscal social contract.
According to him, Nigeria’s tax revenue remains far below that of comparable countries, making far-reaching reforms unavoidable.
He urged Nigerians who support the reforms to speak up, warning that silence allows opponents to dominate public discourse.
The tax chairman said a major obstacle to progress is the erosion of confidence in public institutions and even within government itself.
“The trust in government and within government is very low,” he said.
He added that poor tax culture has left many Nigerians unaware of their responsibilities to the state.
Oyedele said misinformation has fuelled the belief that the reforms introduce fresh taxes, when the focus is actually on streamlining existing ones.
“Suddenly, there is a national awareness, and they just say, the people have come with taxes all over the place when actually, what the government is doing is to reduce those taxes they have been paying, and harmonise them,” he said.
According to him, meaningful reform requires bravery and firm political resolve to confront inevitable backlash.
“You need that courage to push through, you need the courage to take risks, because it’s very risky,” Oyedele said.
“There is political risk, there is economic risk, there is reputational risk. You need to see all manner of names they call me now online. There are even threats, death threats. So you have to have the courage to do all of that.
“What we have been doing all along, all my adult life with the tax system, was pain reliever. It hasn’t taken us far. It can’t take us far. Now we’re doing the surgery. It’s going to come with some pain, but that’s the only right thing to do.”
Despite online attacks and threats, Oyedele said the reform strategy was necessary to address systemic failures.