Tinubu To Nigerians:; ‘Pay Your Taxes’
President Bola Tinubu, in his national broadcast to mark Nigeria’s 65th Independence Anniversary, urged citizens to embrace tax payment as part of their patriotic duty, stressing that the survival and development of the nation depends on collective responsibility.
Speaking on Wednesday, October 1, 2025, Tinubu acknowledged the hardship Nigerians are facing due to his administration’s economic reforms but insisted that the government needs more revenue to rebuild critical infrastructure and improve social services.
“Let us be a nation of producers, not just consumers. Let us farm our land and build factories to process our produce. Let us patronise Made-in-Nigeria goods. I say Nigeria first. Let us pay our taxes,” Tinubu declared in his address.
The president highlighted several economic policies he said were beginning to yield results, including the removal of fuel subsidy, foreign exchange reforms, and efforts to diversify the economy away from oil dependence.
He claimed that inflation had dropped to its lowest level in three years and the country’s external reserves had risen to over $42 billion.
Tinubu also pointed to an increase in Nigeria’s tax-to-GDP ratio from less than 10 per cent to 13.5 per cent, which he described as a step toward fiscal stability.
According to him, the new tax laws set to take effect in January 2026 would focus on expanding the tax base while granting relief to low-income earners.
The President framed tax compliance as an essential part of Nigeria’s nation-building process.
“We must build the roads we need, repair the ones that have become decrepit, and construct the schools our children will attend and the hospitals that will care for our people. We do not have enough electricity to power our industries and homes today because we failed to make the necessary investments decades ago. Now, we must all contribute our quota. That is why I call on Nigerians: let us pay our taxes,” he said.
Meanwhile, the President Bola Tinubu-led Nigerian government had announced that it would commence the implementation of four new tax laws, dubbed the “Tax Acts quartet”, in January 2026, a move it claims would expand the country’s revenue base while reducing the burden of taxation on citizens.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, disclosed this during a press conference in Abuja on Monday to mark Nigeria’s 65th Independence anniversary.
According to Idris, the reforms are part of President Bola Tinubu’s “Renewed Hope Agenda,” which the administration insists is repositioning Nigeria’s struggling economy through subsidy removal, diversification of revenue, and large-scale infrastructural projects.
The statement reads: “As we mark this 65th year since our Independence from Great Britain, we are all witnesses to the remarkable reforms taking shaping at a pace never before seen. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is doing the needful; a committed, courageous and visionary leader dismantling stubborn cogs in the wheel of our national progress.
“Under the Renewed Hope Agenda, and its Eight (8) Priority Areas, President Tinubu is laying the building blocks for a national renewal anchored on prosperity, peace and unity. At this point in time, our collective participation in nation building is critical to the sustenance of the progress being made.”
