New Tax Law Goes Rogue

 By Andy Ezeani

It is two days to Christmas. This, universally, is a season of goodwill. Already, President Bola Tinubu has retired to Lagos for his holiday. No one will begrudge him rest at this most fitting season to relax. Against the backdrop of unceasing flow of crisis and problems that have characterized his presidency, most of them self-inflicted, though, Tinubu can do with every peace and goodwill Christmas offers. 

*Tinubu

Before he left Abuja last Friday, December 19 2025, after laying the 2026 annual budget before the National Assembly, the President reportedly left appropriate messages of goodwill for the lawmakers at the National Assembly. That would be very characteristic of him in relation to the lawmakers. 

Tax Reform Bills: Tinubu Lacks The Will For National Consensus Building

 By Olu Fasan

Hardly anyone will disagree that Nigeria needs a fundamental tax reform. This, after all, is a country with one of the most cumbersome tax regimes in the world, where tax laws and regulations are overlapping and burdensome, where the administration and collection of taxes, and their spending, are ridden with inefficiency and corruption, and where tax avoidance and evasion are prevalent. Nigeria’s tax system is in deep crisis.

*Tinubu

However, while crises are a trigger for fundamental reforms, making the status quo unsustainable, they are not sufficient for reform success. In a democracy, there’s a critical need for an explicit electoral mandate for reform and for a carefully crafted policy design, shaped by a broad consensus for change.