The Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, has dismissed speculations that the five percent surcharge on fuel will take effect from January 2026.
Oyedele spoke as a guest on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief.
“The decision was made to put this in the new law and to put a commencement date that is going to be in the future, based on an order to be gazetted by the minister. So nobody will just spontaneously introduce the tax and create problems for the system,” Oyedele said on Tuesday during the morning show.
“So, actually, I can tell you that before this tax laws were enacted and shortly after it was signed, there was already an attempt by the agency [FERMA] to even collect the tax and we had to say to them, ‘You can’t collect it because the new law says you’re not the one to collect and commencement will not happen till the minister says so.’ There is nothing that says this tax will start 1st January 2026. People need to get that right.”
Since reports about the surcharge made headlines, Nigerians have faulted the move, with the Trade Union Congress (TUC) threatening to strike if the decision is not reversed.
However, Oyedele has faulted the union over its threat, arguing that the surcharge was introduced by a previous government and not the administration of President Bola Tinubu.
“TUC, which is planning to go on strike to say it should be removed. I don’t know what they want the government to remove, because it hasn’t been imposed, and there is no regulation that says it would be imposed from January,” he told the hosts of the breakfast show. “The TUC should have complained and protested when this was introduced in 2007.”
On concerns about inflation, he noted that the real economic burden comes from poor road networks and illegal taxes imposed during transportation.
He disclosed that Nigeria has about 200,000 kilometres of roads, with only 60,000 paved, making logistics costly, unsafe, and inefficient.
According to him, the surcharge will help the government with funds to maintain the roads.
Oyedele assured Nigerians that the reform initiatives of the Tinubu administration will yield results, asking for patience from the citizens.
