Taiwo Oyedele says the new tax laws do not create new taxpayers but enforce existing obligations for all income earners, regardless of profession or legality.
President Bola Tinubu signed four tax reform bills into law on June 26, with implementation scheduled for January 1, 2026. Speaking at an interactive session with journalists, influencers, and public analysts on Friday, Fiscal Policy and Tax Reform Committee chairman Taiwo Oyedele clarified that the duty to “self-declare” income is not new.
“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 said. He added that no one is being newly targeted. “These new tax laws are not imposing taxes on anyone who was not taxable before… So, we cannot now say that agberos are exempted from tax. I know the sex workers thing is being sensationalised.”
Oyedele noted that tax systems worldwide do not exempt earnings on moral or legal grounds. He said undeclared income can be traced through spending, saving, or investing, all of which leave third-party records.