By Ebube Bruno
Happy New Year, my dear readers. I have missed you.
It’s been nearly three months since my last column on October 11, 2025, and what a journey it has been. I stepped away to pursue some meaningful projects and, afterwards, to rest and recharge during the holidays. Sometimes, we all need to pause, reflect, and return with renewed clarity—and that’s exactly what I did.
When I last wrote, I was deep in a series titled “Roaming the Internet Streets: Gen Z and the Cost of Constant Connection.” I had promised to share insights on how digital education, parental tech-literacy, and digital restrictions can protect our children. As well as what Nigerian families can learn from nations leading the charge in safeguarding young minds online. That conversation remains unfinished, and I fully intend to return to it. The digital world isn’t slowing down, and neither should our efforts to understand and navigate it wisely.
But as we step into 2026, there’s an urgent matter demanding our attention, one that affects every Nigerian, young and old, online and offline. It’s a matter that will touch our pockets, reshape our businesses, and redefine how we relate to our government. I’m talking, of course, about the new tax regime that takes effect on January 1st, 2026.
Our lives will never remain the same. And that’s exactly what we need to talk about today.
Year 2026 is not just another year; it is a year that will usher in a new regime—not political but economic. How the transition is done will determine if the nation and its citizens will be better off for it. As citizens and businesses open their eyes to the new year, the Nigerian government, through the four tax laws, will systematically beam its eyes on their purses in its effort to ensure that everyone contributes to the national coffers.
Our lives will never remain the same because, for the first time since 1986 when the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) tax regime was implemented, Nigeria is witnessing a very complex tax reform. More than SAP, this tax reform is raising distrust, confusion, miscommunication, and counter-messaging.
From labour unions to airline operators, from students to business owners, opposition has followed a familiar pattern: low consultation, poor communication, and fear of economic shock.
The Nigerian Labour Congress, for instance, has rejected the laws entirely, saying workers—the largest taxpayers—were never consulted.
I watched on television the Vice President of the Association of Airline Operators of Nigeria, Allen Onyema, paint an apocalyptic image that airlines may pack up within three months of this tax implementation.
Nigerians have a history of tax resistance. From the 1929 Aba Women’s Riot to other instances over the years, tax resistance has come up once in a while. While some of these resistances are due to tax overburden, others are due to distrust. Citizens feel that their taxes will not be put to good use.
Not being an expert in the field, I have had to speak with those who know better than me on the subject matter. I did not want to approach a technical matter armed only by my moral impulse.
I first spoke with a tax lawyer and civil servant with the State Inland Revenue Service. She said, “As a worker in the formal sector, your employer will remit and pay your tax to the government.”
When I asked if the government would deduct money from accounts that have crossed 800,000 Naira, she said, “What will happen is if we notice a regular inflow of certain amounts of money into your account, we’ll write to you to come to our office.” She said when one is invited, he or she can explain if the money is for “perhaps a project, medical bills, or if you have another job that you’re paid for. The explanation will determine if the extra money will be taxed or exempted.”
The expert with a PhD further told me that not everyone will be affected as the tax agents have a threshold they work with.
I also listened to a radio conversation where Mr Kingsley Eworo, the Executive Secretary of the Budget Transparency and Accountability Initiative (BTAN), featured alongside economist Richard Inoyo.
READ ALSO: NASS releases 4 certified Tax Reform Acts to public
Kingsley, who is a member of the Tax Justice and Governance Platform, said tax reforms are good for governance. However, the current reforms face issues of the rule of law and an integrity crisis. He says, “From a governance platform, you can’t implement a law that is not clear.”
The challenge, he says, is mainly because “those who made the law on our behalf are having an argument about the version they passed and the version that was gazetted. In cases like this, what suffers is trust. Citizens will ask, ‘Why would we want to obey such laws whose genuineness is in doubt?'”
He, therefore, proposed a three-month pause on the implementation of the law to enable wider education and possible amendments.
Listening to him further confirmed my theory: Nigerians struggle with tax compliance, and reform is overdue.
He said in some Nigerian States, the tax compliance rate is below 20% for eligible individuals and 6% for companies. He said reform is needed to broaden the tax pull and enforce compliance.
On the radio show, the economist Inoyo was asked, “Who gains and who loses from these laws?” The host of the show said it was necessary to know, considering that the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) welcomed the reform as beneficial to its members, while national organised labour, small business owners, and airline operators are against it.
Inoyo answered, “I’m shocked when I see unions coming out to say certain things.” He, however, acknowledged that it is good “if, for instance, you run a business that has been collecting VAT on behalf of the government, and if at the end your revenue is not up to 100 million, you can put the VAT back into your business.” He says he thinks that is what MAN means when it says the laws will benefit its members.
“But outside that, my brother, I still think that this law will force manufacturers to increase the cost of production and force the new price regime on the Nigerian people. We are already overburdened with inflation in this country,” Inoyo said.
He said that before tax reform is introduced, it has to go through three levels, including tax jurisprudence, tax education, and tax implementation. How these processes are managed determines how they will be received by the populace who are to be taxed.
If you follow conversations online and offline, you’ll hear various theories about what’s really happening:
“That some of these stands have political undertones.”
“That the government is widening the tax net to convince borrowers that we’re creditworthy.”
“Those who are against the tax laws are tax evaders whom the law has come to ‘catch.’ They are sponsoring people to protest because they are ashamed to be exposed as the evaders if they take up the protest by themselves.”
“Confusion nawa ooo!” When the government, tax administrators, lawyers, civil society practitioners, labour union leaders, economists, influencers, and others are divided on the gains or demerits of a policy, you know that something is not adding up.
I believe citizens should pay taxes. I believe anyone who runs away from paying tax also loses the right to claim ownership and seek accountability.
I want to believe the words of
Valentine Nwagbo, my brother, is a lawyer and entrepreneur. He believes “the law is not as airtight as people want us to believe. The law is good. It will help small businesses. I will cause them more good than harm.”
We will never get to know what these laws are truly about until we begin to experience their implementation. One thing seems certain: our lives will never remain the same.
