The Federal Government has announced plans to introduce a fuel tax but says Nigerians will have to wait until the economy stabilises and incomes improve before the policy takes effect.
Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, disclosed this in an interview on the sidelines of the 2026 International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings in Bangkok, Thailand.
He said revenue from the proposed tax would be channelled into road infrastructure and the development of a fuel reserve to shield the country against future price shocks.
Oyedele explained that introducing the tax while petrol subsidies were still in place would have been counterproductive, as the government would effectively have borne the cost. He added that imposing the levy immediately after the removal of the subsidy would have further strained Nigerians already grappling with higher fuel prices.
The minister said the government’s priority was to ensure that Nigerians’ incomes grew faster than prices, rather than attempting to suppress prices through policies he described as ineffective.
“The objective should be that instead of trying to suppress prices, which hasn’t worked for us, it hasn’t worked for any country in the world, not one. Instead of trying to suppress prices, think about how to grow income faster than prices rise,” he said.
According to him, boosting incomes is key to improving living standards, expanding the middle class and building a more prosperous economy.
He said the proposed tax would be introduced only when economic conditions and income levels could accommodate the additional burden.
“At the appropriate time, when the economy has stabilised and income level will be able to accommodate it, those taxes will come. Not because we want to impose taxes,” Oyedele added.
