Nigerians are in disarray as source of livelihoods depreciate daily due to the government economic modifications. CHIKA OKEKE analyses some of the key indices captured in Nigeria's Reforms Scorecard.
With over 242 million population, 70 percent of Nigerians live on less than one dollar day, signifying the level of hardship and poverty taunting a country richly endowed in natural and human resources.
From the North, South, East and down to the West, Nigerians lament bitterly over the high cost of living including the hike in prices of food, medicine, cooking gas, clothings, among other necessities of life.
The lopsidedness in employment into the government Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, further worsened the dicey condition, leaving many unemployed and searching for jobs.
There is no recent official data on unemployed Nigerians in 2026 but the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, in its second quarter of 2024 report, pegged unemployment at 4.3 per cent, which is approximately 11 million.
This is a massive outcry from the reality as the population of unemployed Nigerians is higher than the official statistics. It also explains why political parties rent crowd during rallies only to offer them peanuts at the end. Aside unemployment, analysts had described the gory situation as an affront on Nigeria's democratic journey.
The recently uncovered Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, PFIPC, is another indicator of the level of unemployment and frustration that is gradually eating up Nigeria.
Given the level of secrecy uncovered by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, President Bola Tinubu had on Wednesday ordered a comprehensive forensic investigation of Federal Government's administrative, accounting and payroll systems.
Citing the discovery of additional fake government agencies by the ICPC, the President noted that the investigation would examine the processes, procedures and internal control weaknesses that enabled a fake body known as the PFIPC and other fictitious agencies to penetrate the Federal Government’s administrative system.
Until the conclusion of the investigation, an Analyst who preferred anonymous linked the entire saga to endemic corruption, blended with desperation and greed.
However, Nigeria's long walk to economic recovery is laced with accusations, counter-accusation and many questions seeking verifiable evidence, both at the Federal, State and Local Government levels.
But a further analysis of the key indices contained in the Reforms Scorecard portrayed an ailing economy battling for survival.
New Tax Law
Signed into law on June 26, 2025, the new tax law which took effect on January 1, 2026, repealed the Companies Income Tax Act, CITA, and Personal Income Tax Act, PITA, consolidating rules into a single legal framework to simplify compliance and broaden the revenue base.
As part of its statutory mandate in resolving complaints relating to taxes, levies, regulatory fees and charges, customs duties and excise matters, the Office of the Tax Ombud, OTO, has concluded plans to unveil the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights and Obligations.
The Bill would give taxpayers a clear understanding of their rights and responsibilities while setting out the standards of fairness, transparency and accountability they should expect from tax and revenue authorities.
Tax Ombud and Chief Executive Officer of the OTO, Mr. John Nwabueze stated that the document would be made available through the OTO’s digital platforms and other public channels, noting that a simplified and equitable tax system is critical to building a new national consciousness and restoring public trust in tax administration.
The CEO disclosed that OTO had commenced a structured public awareness and stakeholder sensitisation programme to improve understanding of its mandate, services and the rights available to taxpayers
He informed that effective protection of taxpayers’ rights depended on citizens knowing those rights and understanding where and how to seek redress.
Nwabueze pointed out that Nigeria’s OTO was the third of such institutions established in Africa and ninth globally, placing the country within a broader international development in modern tax administration.
He was hopeful that the establishment of OTO was designed to address gaps in Nigeria’s tax dispute-resolution framework, particularly administrative and procedural challenges faced by taxpayers.
The CEO noted that the tax reforms initiated by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu were aimed at addressing weaknesses in the tax and revenue system, including fragmentation, complexity and the burden of multiple taxes.
But the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, while presenting Nigeria’s Reform Scorecard titled “The Benefits, Costs and Harm Prevented,” on Wednesday in Abuja, stated that the tax-to-GDP ratio will keep climbing.
Nigeria's tax-to-GDP ratio has risen to approximately 13 percent in 2026, up from below 10 percent, a performance linked to fiscal reforms, increased digitalisation and revenue mobilisation.
Irrespective of the performance, Nigerians are yet to witness the benefits of the government reforms as cost of living keeps getting tougher everday, resulting to increased hunger, starvation and hopelessness.
Oyedele assured that the Federal Government will continue the implementation of the Nigeria Tax Act while initiating further fiscal reforms aimed at addressing challenges in the budgeting, reporting and accountability systems.
The Minister informed that the new Tax Act exempts low-income earners and small businesses from tax, while simplifying a system that had over-burdened the poor for decades.
He vowed that the government will prioritise spending in the most impactful areas, partnering with the States and Local Governments, and extending macro-economic gains into meaningful impact for every household.
Already, manufacturers across the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, are lamenting over multiple taxation despite the enactment of the Nigeria Tax Act 2025.
The Manufacturers CEO Confidence Index, MCCI, report for the second quarter of 2026, released by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN, indicated that manufacturers are contending with poor infrastructure, high production costs, raw material shortages and unfavourable trade policies.
Director-General of MAN, Segun Ajayi-Kadir cautioned that the gains in local sourcing could be undermined by worsening insecurity in parts of the country.
He said: “Manufacturers complained that they were still met with multiple tax collectors and regulators in Q2 2026. It follows that the implementation of the Nigeria Tax Act 2025 is yet to achieve its objective of relieving manufacturers of the burden of taxes and levies.”
Nigeria’s business environment remains largely unsupportive of manufacturing growth, with local sourcing of raw materials emerging as the only indicator that recorded noticeable improvement, according to the report.
The association hinged the improvement on persistent foreign exchange constraints, which forced many manufacturers to source inputs locally but noted that excessive regulation and multiple taxation continue to weigh heavily on manufacturers.
Manufacturers recorded a modest increase in sales volume during the second quarter, but rising production, distribution and logistics costs continued to erode profitability.
Also, capacity utilisation, production levels, investment and employment remained unchanged during the review period.
Ajayi-Kadir said that although recent foreign exchange reforms had helped stabilise the naira, inadequate foreign currency supply remained a major constraint to manufacturing operations.
He disclosed that the findings underscored the continued pressure on manufacturers despite recent fiscal and foreign exchange reforms, harping on the need for more effective implementation of policies aimed at improving the operating environment for the real sector.
Advocating for real changes in the sector, Chairman of MAN, Ikeja Branch, Mr Thomas Osobu requested for consistent and predictable government policies to stimulate investment, productivity and sustainable industrial development.
Osobu informed that manufacturers continued to contend with foreign exchange volatility, rising energy costs, multiple taxation, logistics bottlenecks and an increasingly complex regulatory environment.
He disclosed that a well-designed and consistently implemented reforms would attract investment, promote innovation, create jobs, boost exports and strengthen Nigeria’s industrial base.
Until the benefits of the new Tax law spread to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, SMEs, which automatically manifests to improved livelihoods, it remains a paper work.
Inflation
Nigeria’s headline inflation rate crashed to 15.43 per cent in July 2026, down from 15.91 per cent recorded in June, as captured in the Consumer Price Index, CPI, report released by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, last week.
The Bureau said that the increase reflected changes in the average prices of goods and services purchased by consumers, while the inflation rate measured the pace of the price increases.
Despite the slight drop in headline inflation, food inflation rate rose by 2.79 percentage points to 20.31 percent in July, from 17.52 percent in June, due to the change in the average prices of crayfish, fresh pepper, fresh onions, fresh carrots, rice, water yam, fresh tomatoes, garri, plantain, beef, egg, guinea corn, ginger, plantain flour, among others.
The latest decline follows ongoing efforts by the Federal Government to stabilise the economy and reduce pressure placed on consumers and businesses as a result of wobbly foreign exchange rate.
Oyedele disclosed that the Federal Government has restrategised to trim down Headline inflation to a single digit, reduce poverty and deepen agricultural interventions to bring down the prices of food in the market.
There is also a £500 million agreement between the Nigeria Soverign Investment Authourity, NSIA, and a UK-based agribusiness to transform the diary industry. The initiative is intended to enhance food security, reduce importation of diary products, create jobs and stimulate agricultural value chain.
Agriculture was the mainstay of Nigeria's economy before the discovery of oil in Oloibiri, the present day Bayelsa State.
Currently, Nigeria spends over $1.5 billion annually on the importation of dairy products, according to the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development.
The success of this intervention by the Uk-based company determines the actual number of Nigerians employed in the value chain, while reducing the importation of diary products as promised.
Fuel subsidy
On May, 29, 2023, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ruled out the payment of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, from third quarter of 2023.
He argued that based on the budget he inherited from the past administration of late President Muhammadu Buhari, subsidy was supposed to end by June, 2023. It implied that the subsidy ceased to exist from July 2023.
As at 2023, Nigeria spent more than $850 million monthly on fuel subsidy as revealed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited ,NNPCL.
The announcement of fuel subsidy removal marked the beginning of hardship in a country that sold a litre of petrol between N180 to N195 in 2023, which sells for over ₦1,100 to ₦1,500 in 2026.
Minister of Finance, Taiwo Oyedele added: “For the past three years, the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has embarked on major reforms to address age-long economic challenges — the removal of a fuel subsidy that was quietly bankrupting the country, and the unification of an exchange rate system that had become a source of arbitrage, distortion and corruption rather than stability.
“Those decisions came at a real cost and we are not here to pretend otherwise. Prices rose. The naira adjusted sharply. Households and businesses felt it, and many still do. We are calling this Nigeria’s Reform Scorecard, and it is built to be read honestly, regardless of whether you agree with the reforms.”
He disclosed that savings from fuel subsidy removal and foreign exchange harmonisation increased accretion to the Federation Account through higher oil and non-oil receipts, and reduced encumbrances on future revenue.
Oyedele hinted that the N15.8 trillion generated from the removal of fuel subsidy and the liberalisation of the foreign exchange in three years benefited Nigerians in 10 different ways.
He said that the subsidy savings resulted in wage increases and timely payment of salaries and pensions; settlement of pension arrears and gratuities owed to retirees; wealth creation for millions of Nigerians through capital market gains and transformative infrastructures development nationwide.
Also, top globally friendly student loan schemes, NELFUND, and affordable consumer /SME credit; subsidised mortgage and housing schemes, plus social transfers to the most vulnerable, up to 15million households; agricultural interventions strengthening food security; and fuel availability and energy scarcity despite global shocks, among others.
The Minister noted that Nigeria’s total incremental spending rose to ₦30.64 trillion between June 2023 and December 2025, irrespective of the gains recorded in subsidy removal.
Analysts argued that the reversal of fuel subsidy may not be feasible given the rise in the Federal Government's incremental spending.
Till date, Nigerians are still struggling to scale through the weighty effect of subsidy removal despite the impressive economic performance.
Comments
Post a Comment