President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said Nigeria’s tax-to-gross domestic product ratio has risen to 13.5 per cent as of September 2025, up from less than 10 per cent.
He disclosed this in Nigeria’s 65th Independence anniversary broadcast on Wednesday.
President Tinubu noted that the federal government’s tax law, which takes effect from January 2026, is not about increasing the burden on existing taxpayers.
“Our tax-to-GDP ratio has risen to 13.5 per cent from less than 10 per cent. The ratio is expected to increase further when the new tax law takes effect in January. The tax law is not about increasing the burden on existing taxpayers but about expanding the base to build the Nigeria we deserve and providing tax relief to low-income earners.”
Recall that in June 2025, Tinubu signed the country’s four tax bills into law, which include the Nigeria Tax Bill (Fair Taxation), the Nigeria Tax Administration Bill, the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Bill, and the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Bill.
Meanwhile, the federal government had insisted that low-income earners would be exempted from the new tax laws; there have been concerns that may not be the case upon implementation from January 2026.
In a recent interview, the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, Zacch Adedeji, said the biggest deal for Nigerians in the new tax law is that food, education, shared transportation and agriculture will be Value Added Tax free.
