In a sweeping declaration that spares no profession, Nigeria’s top tax official has asserted that every single income-earning citizen—from formal professionals to those in the shadow economy—must declare their earnings to the government. Taiwo Oyedele, chairman of the presidential fiscal policy and tax reforms committee, stated that this obligation to “self-declare” is a foundational legal requirement, not a new invention.
The statement comes after President Bola Tinubu signed four new tax reform bills into law on June 26, with their full implementation set for January 1, 2026.
During a Friday interactive session, Oyedele explicitly named sex workers and agberos (informal transport union workers) as being within the tax net, arguing that the law makes no distinction based on the nature of one’s work.
“Sex workers, agberos, you know what I said is, everybody has the responsibility to self-declare. That is the first obligation in the law,” he stated.
“The other thing I said is, these new tax laws are not imposing taxes on anyone who was not taxable before. So, the existing laws we have already require that if you earn income, you pay tax on it,” Oyedele explained. “If I am an agbero, which is I am calling people to enter the vehicle and I get paid, how is that different from the waiter in this hotel? How is it different from an accountant? How is it different from a factory worker? So, we cannot now say that agberos are exempted from tax. I know the sex workers thing is being sensationalised.”
The chairman firmly stated that tax authorities worldwide do not grant exemptions based on morality or legality.
“There are court judgments all over the world to say that when it comes to tax matters, there are no questions about morality or legality,” Oyedele said. “Otherwise, if the tax law exempts immoral activities and illegal activities, I will just make my work become illegal so I don’t pay tax.
“Around the world, the tax authorities and the tax laws tax you on your income, whether it is legal or not, whether it is moral or not. In fact, the IRS in the U.S., they had a notice that says, if you steal, you must declare it for tax purposes.”
‘UNDECLARED INCOME CAN BE TRACED’
Oyedele warned that the system is equipped to uncover earnings even if individuals fail to declare them.
“If the Agbero does not declare and the journalist does not declare, how do we find out? It is the system validation because when you earn money, if you don’t tell us, you do three things with the money you earn. You either spend or you save or you invest. All of that you do with third parties, and it can be validated,” he asserted.
Reiterating his earlier controversial point, Oyedele confirmed that income earned by commercial sex workers will be subject to tax under the new system, emphasizing that the law’s focus is solely on the fact that money was earned from goods or services, not on the legitimacy of the source.