Business

Tax reform will boost workers’ welfare – Fed Govt

Published

1 year ago

January 3, 2025

305 Views

The proposed Tax Reform Bills will significantly improve the quality of life for workers, the Federal Government has reaffirmed.

In response to misgivings expressed by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Joe Ajaero, Chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Taiwo Oyedele outlined key measures embedded in the bills.

He said lowly-paid workers earning around N1 million annually (approximately N83,000 monthly), would enjoy full exemption from the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax. This policy would cover nearly one-third of workers in both the public and private sectors.

For middle-income earners, the bills propose reduced PAYE tax rates for those earning up to N20 million annually (about N1.7 million per month), benefiting an additional 60 percent of Nigerian workers.

Members of the armed forces actively engaged in combating insecurity will also receive PAYE tax exemptions alongside other ranks.

To mitigate the rising cost of living, the bills propose eliminating Value Added Tax (VAT) on essential goods and services, including food, healthcare, and education, which account for approximately 60 percent of all household consumption.

Other items such as transportation, renewable energy, compressed natural gas (CNG), baby products, sanitary towels, and fuel products, representing over 20 percent of household consumption, are also exempted.

Oyedele explained that these measures would address nearly 82 percent of household expenses and up to 100 percent for low-income earners.

The tax reform bills include provisions to incentivize better compensation for workers. These include tax breaks for wage awards and transport subsidies targeting low-income earners.

Furthermore, the bills aim to simplify processes by removing bureaucratic restrictions on wage awards and introducing caps on taxable benefits granted to workers.

Oyedele explained that the reforms propose VAT exemptions on rent and property acquisition to promote affordable housing. Stamp duties on rents below N10 million would also be waived to alleviate housing-related financial burdens.

The tax reforms also prioritize employment creation through various incentives. These include tax benefits for employers hiring more workers, tax-friendly rules to attract remote work opportunities for Nigerians, and tax exemptions for 97 percent of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

The harmonization and reduction of tax rates for large businesses are expected to stimulate growth, creating more job opportunities.

Acknowledging that the tax bills could be refined further, Oyedele noted the importance of robust debates and stakeholder engagements during the legislative process.

“The bills in their current form are the most pro-workers tax reforms in Nigerian history,” he stated, urging the NLC to collaborate in identifying areas for improvement.

“We believe the NLC will not intentionally work against the interest of its members. We look forward to discussing specific areas to better serve the interest of all Nigerians, including workers,” Oyedele added.

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Nigeria, UAE scrap tariffs on over 13,000 goods

Dr Oduwole said that the tariffs removal was part of a new trade pact aimed at expanding market access for Nigerian goods, businesses, and professionals, under the Nigeria–UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement signed in January 2026.

Published

2 hours ago

January 14, 2026

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•Dr Jumoke Oduwole

Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates have signed an agreement to eliminate tariffs on 13,000 manufactured products.

Dr Jumoke Oduwole, Nigeria’s Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment disclosed this, saying that while the Federal Government has eliminated tariffs on 6,243 products imported from the UAE , they have removed tariffs on 7,315 products imported from Nigeria.

Under the agreement, Nigeria will immediately remove tariffs on 3,949 products, representing 63.3 per cent of the total, while phasing out tariffs on 2,294 products over five years. Nigeria excluded 123 products from tariff liberalisation.

On its part, the UAE will immediately eliminate tariffs on 2,805 products, representing 38.3 per cent of the total, remove tariffs on 1,468 products within three years, and on 3,042 products within five years.

The UAE excluded or prohibited 593 products.

Business

CBN: 60 newly recruits staff laments three years of waiting without engagement

The concerned staff appealed to the CBN Governor, President Bola Tinubu, and other stakeholders to look into their plights, as economic hardship has taken a toll on them after about three years of leaving their jobs.

Published

1 day ago

January 13, 2026

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22 Views

• CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso

A group of newly recruited staff of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have cried out over delayed posting and onboarding into various positions since August 28, 2023.

The Guardian reported that according to the employees, the Apex Bank issued the offer, which was followed by an acceptance copy and instructions to resign from their previous places of work, where applicable, as part of documentation.

“We all tendered resignation letters to our former employers at that time to enable us to proceed with the CBN process,” one of the affected employees, Emmanuel Linus Dabo, who spoke on behalf of others,, told newsmen on Monday.

According to him, the application process started in April 2023, where their resumé were submitted to the Headquarters of CBN, and after some time, they received emails from the Human Resources Department for interview and aptitude tests.

“We did a medical examination at the bank’s medical clinic, where a code was given to individual applicants before we could access the hospital.

After the interview and medical and aptitude tests, the successful applicants were contacted by the HR manager to come to CBN Headquarters in Abuja to pick up their offer letter. We filled the acceptance letter without delay,” he said.

He further stated that there was a series of e-mails from the Human Resources office requesting that they forward their credentials for the online documentation, including their acknowledged resignation letters from their previous employers…

Business

KPMG, NRS settle rifts over new tax laws

In its newsletter on January 9, KPMG said there are “errors, inconsistencies, gaps, omissions, and lacunae” in the new tax laws that require urgent reconsideration to ensure the achievement of their stated objectives.

Published

1 day ago

January 13, 2026

OCHEFA

25 Views

KPMG executives and Zaach Adedeji, chairman of the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), held a meeting on Monday following the disagreement over the new tax laws.

However, on January 10, the presidential fiscal policy and tax reforms committee pushed back against KPMG’s critique, noting that KPMG does not understand the laws.

The committee said a significant proportion of the issues described as “errors,” “gaps,” or “omissions” by KPMG are either the firm’s own errors and invalid conclusions, or matters not properly understood by the firm.

In a statement on Monday, the NRS said that Adedeji hosted a courtesy visit from the delegation of the tax advisory firm.

” During the visit, the KPMG team clarified that their earlier opinion on the new tax laws “had been misconstrued and expressed regret over the misunderstanding.

“They sought further clarity on the provisions of the laws and highlighted areas where recommendations could be made.”

The source said that the meeting ended with the delegation commended the NRS chairman for efficiently and promptly implementing the reforms.