ADC predicts fuel tax after 2027 vote; finance minister says levy is off the table

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) says President Bola Tinubu could introduce a five-per-cent fuel tax after the 2027 election if he wins another term. Finance Minister Taiwo Oyedele says the levy is not currently under consideration.

The party’s national publicity secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, made the allegation on Tuesday, 20 October, after Oyedele discussed fuel taxation in an interview on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Bangkok.

In that interview, Oyedele said such taxes could come at an appropriate time when the economy had stabilised and incomes had improved. He gave no implementation date. He later said his remarks had been misrepresented and that a fuel tax was “not on the table”. TheCable’s account of his response also described the recorded interview. No start date has been announced.

Abdullahi argued that the administration was delaying a levy provided for under the Nigeria Tax Act until after the vote. He predicted Tinubu might announce it at a second inauguration, drawing a comparison with the President’s 2023 petrol subsidy announcement. That timetable is the ADC’s allegation, not an announced government decision.

Using petrol at ₦1,450 a litre as an example, the ADC calculated that a five-per-cent charge passed fully to consumers would add ₦72.50, bringing the price to ₦1,522.50. It warned that higher fuel costs would affect transport, food distribution and small businesses. The calculation is illustrative; it is not a government price forecast.

The party urged support for the fuel-production subsidy proposal of its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar. Oyedele has discussed roads and a strategic fuel reserve as possible uses of future tax revenue, but the minister maintains that a fuel tax is not being introduced now.

Image credit: UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office / Russell Watkins via Wikimedia Commons, cropped file, CC BY 2.0. File photo of President Tinubu, November 2024.

Source: The Guardian Nigeria / TheCable