President Bola Tinubu has glowingly applauded Taiwo Oyedele, Nigeria’s new minister of state for finance, for the feats he recorded when he led a major overhaul of the country’s tax system as the chair of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms.
The president, who spoke at the swearing-in ceremony of Mr Oyedele in Abuja on Monday, acknowledged his key role in helping Nigeria rewrite its entire tax policy and championing its transition from a long reliance on an opaque and obsolete tax structure.
“It didn’t take much for me to decide where you fit and where you need to be to further help the country,” Mr Tinubu said.
“It is a very challenging job to look at the fiscal policy and responsibility that comes with it, at a time that economic stability is being experienced, but without exponential growth. It is always very difficult, but you fit the bill,” he added.
Mr Oyedele led a series of reforms that culminated in Nigeria’s new tax law, which took effect in January, and which aimed at reducing the number of taxes and levies exacted by the government from more than 60 to below 10 to make the economy more competitive.
Downsides like multiple taxation and a cumbersome collection process, often cited as put-offs for investors under the old regime, have been largely addressed by the new law.
Nigeria, whose tax-to-GDP ratio stood at 13.5 per cent last June, is looking to raise it to anywhere from 18 to 20 per cent as it targets a $1 trillion GDP by 2030.
“So I’m grateful to Mr President, but also very grateful to the generality of the Nigerian people, particularly stakeholders that have been very supportive of the work we’ve done to date,” Mr Oyedele told journalists after his inauguration.
“But you know, they say reforms are only as good as the paper on which they are written. What is really important is the diligent execution, and this is part of it: to move from policy formulation to execution.”
He vowed to give his very best at every point in time and declared his confidence in the team at the Federal Ministry of Finance, which he said would be able to provide the support needed to deliver on every task.
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Mr Oyedele, who spent over 20 years at PwC, where he rose to become the Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader, noted that revenue mobilisation and spending efficiency will be the immediate priority of his ministry.
“And of course, you know, issues around debt management and fiscal sustainability is also important,” he stated.
According to him, those priorities need to connect effectively to other policies of government – from monetary policy to trade – for them to provide desired results. It is important to position Nigeria to best handle challenges and headwinds, while leveraging values and opportunities at home and abroad, he added.