Opposition group urges Tinubu to halt new tax policy, threatens mass protests

President Bola Tinubu’s proposed tax policies on Wednesday faced fresh opposition, days ahead of their planned take-off, as a new opposition group urged the President to halt implementation or risk mass protests.

The group, operating under the aegis of the National Opposition Movement, called on the President not to proceed with the implementation of the new national tax policy scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2026, vowing to mobilise mass protests if its appeal is not heeded.

Chille Igbawua, spokesperson for the group, while addressing journalists in Abuja on Wednesday on the implications of the new policy, said the opposition would work with ordinary Nigerians to resist the taxes should the government insist on going ahead.

Igbawua described the reforms as anti-people, adding that, contrary to official claims, the policy is “not a tax reform; it is an assault on the livelihood of ordinary Nigerians.”

Read also: New tax regime and the ‘power of voices’

This comes against the backdrop of a fall in projected revenue for the 2026 budget, estimated at N54.46 trillion, a development with the potential to put the administration under pressure in 2026.

Already, the National Assembly has mandated the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), which is to be renamed the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) from January 2026, to increase its revenue target from the projected N31 trillion for 2026 to about N35 trillion.

Citing several challenges facing Nigerians, the group said the country is on the threshold of multidimensional failure.

“It is unsafe to travel across Nigerian cities. Poverty is worsening, and homelessness and starvation are realities Nigerians face. At no time in the country’s history has life been so short, so brutish and so miserable for citizens.

“Global economic indices rate Nigeria as the country with the lowest quality of life, lower than poorer neighbours such as Benin, Togo and Niger.”

The group said the Federal Government was compounding this multidimensional failure by prioritising political interests over the security and welfare of Nigerians.

“As Nigeria drifts into multidimensional failure, many patriotic citizens are worried that the imminent collapse of Nigerian democracy, driven by incompetence and corruption under the Tinubu administration, could gravely worsen security and human development crises in West Africa.

“These citizens are now coming together under the umbrella of the National Opposition Movement to keep vigil over developments around security and prosperity under what we describe as the mismanagement of the Tinubu administration and to raise our voices as sentinels of national liberation and transformation.

“We are worried that the several failures of the Tinubu administration have not elicited the right response from the Nigerian political class.”

The group further described the situation in Nigeria as “terrible,” noting that many Nigerians can barely afford food, transport, security, electricity bills or rent.

It said it was “sad that it is at a time like this that the Tinubu administration is preparing to roll out what it described as the most punitive and exploitative tax regime in Nigeria’s history.”

“Even the colonial authorities, in their viciousness, did not contemplate taxing poor Nigerians the way Tinubu plans to at the beginning of the year. This administration’s approach shows that Nigerians will be hit with exploitative and inhuman tax regimes in January, when they lack the fiscal space for such sacrifices.

“This tax regime points to the thoughtlessness of the Tinubu administration and its unyielding commitment to cater to the financial interests of oligarchs at the expense of ordinary Nigerians, who continue to be punished with multiple taxes and rising prices.”

“Let us be clear: what President Tinubu is rolling out in January is not a tax reform; it is an assault on the livelihood of ordinary Nigerians, whose prosperity is not part of this government’s agenda.

“We stand with Nigerian workers, traders, professionals and small businesses.

“We will resist any policy that punishes the poor to excuse leadership failure.

“If this tax plan is forced through without suspension and consultation, the government will be fully responsible for the social and economic consequences. This is not a threat; it is a warning grounded in reality. Nigeria is hurting.

“The suffering of Nigerians has limits. The crisis in West Africa is a crisis of unaccountable governance, authoritarian rule without accountability, and state capture driven by greed and arrogance.

“Nigeria should be saved from the misfortune of stoking conflicts that could destroy the prospects of democracy and development. The government should end its provocation of Nigerians and the suppression of opposition politicians, labour leaders and civil society voices.

“Tinubu should let Nigerians breathe. Enough of poverty, enough of insecurity, enough of the burden placed on citizens, and enough of assaults on opposition leaders. As the year closes, Nigerians reject what we describe as the administration’s incompetence and its assault on the integrity and stability of the Nigerian state.”

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