Why Well-Meaning Nigerians Should Support Tax Reform

By Demola Bakare

Nigeria stands at a familiar crossroads. On one path lies the comfort of resistance—loud objections, recycled mistrust, and the temptation to dismiss reform as yet another burden on the people. On the other lies a more demanding but necessary journey: supporting structural change that secures the nation’s future. The ongoing debate around tax reform places us squarely at this junction, and well-meaning Nigerians must choose wisely.

At its core, taxation is not merely about raising revenue; it is about the social contract between the state and the citizen. A functional tax system is how societies fund public goods, reduce inequality, and hold leaders accountable. For too long, Nigeria’s tax architecture has been inefficient, narrow, and deeply inequitable—placing pressure on a small formal sector while allowing vast leakages, evasion, and corruption to flourish.

The new tax reform seeks to correct these distortions.

Opposition to reform is not unexpected. In a country where public trust in government has been eroded by decades of mismanagement and broken promises, skepticism is natural. But skepticism must not harden into reflexive rejection. Many arguments against the reform—that it is anti-poor, unnecessary, or ill-timed—often ignore a more uncomfortable truth: Nigeria cannot sustainably develop without fixing how it raises and manages public revenue.

A critical pillar of Nigeria’s National Anti-Corruption Strategy is the reduction of opportunities for rent-seeking and financial leakages within public systems. A weak tax framework is itself a corruption enabler. It thrives on discretion, opacity, and informal arrangements that benefit a few at the expense of the many. By broadening the tax base, simplifying processes, leveraging technology, and reducing excessive human interference, tax reform directly advances the anti-corruption agenda.

In this sense, tax reform is not merely a fiscal exercise; it is an integrity reform.

Well-meaning Nigerians should also consider the alternative. When governments cannot rely on predictable and transparent tax revenue, they resort to unsustainable borrowing, inflationary financing, and arbitrary levies. The consequences are familiar: rising living costs, shrinking public investment, and a vicious cycle of poverty. Ironically, resisting tax reform today often deepens the very economic hardship critics claim to oppose.

Fairness is another central issue. An economy where a small fraction of citizens and businesses bear the burden while others contribute little or nothing is inherently unjust. Properly implemented, tax reform ensures that everyone pays a fair share according to capacity, while government gains the resources needed to invest in health, education, infrastructure, and social protection. This is how countries reduce dependence on volatile oil revenues and external shocks—a lesson Nigeria has learned repeatedly, often the hard way.

Supporting reform does not mean blind acceptance. Constructive engagement is not the same as opposition for opposition’s sake. Citizens have every right to demand transparency in implementation, accountability in spending, and clear communication from government. Indeed, these demands carry greater moral force when Nigerians accept the necessity of reform and insist that it be executed properly.

The fight against corruption offers a valuable lesson: systems matter more than slogans. You cannot arrest your way out of corruption, and you cannot protest your way into prosperity. Sustainable progress comes from building institutions that work, rules that are fair, and processes that are difficult to abuse. A reformed tax system is one such institution.

History is rarely kind to generations that reject reform simply because it is inconvenient. Every nation that has achieved lasting development did so by making hard choices—often amid resistance, anxiety, and misunderstanding. Nigeria is no exception.

Supporting the new tax reform is not an endorsement of government perfection; it is an endorsement of Nigeria’s potential. It is a vote for a future where public services are responsibly funded, corruption is structurally constrained, and citizenship carries both rights and responsibilities.

At this critical moment, well-meaning Nigerians must look beyond the noise, interrogate the substance, and stand on the side of long-term national interest. Reform is never painless—but stagnation is far more costly.