FG Denies Petrol Tax Plan, Says Fuel Levy Not on the Table

The federal government has dismissed reports that it plans to introduce a fuel tax in Nigeria, describing the claims as misleading and insisting the levy is not on its current agenda. The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, made the clarification in a post on his official X account on Tuesday, October 20, 2026.

The controversy followed an interview on the sidelines of the 2026 annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Bangkok, Thailand. In the interview with ARISE News, Oyedele discussed how some countries earn revenue from petroleum products, noting that taxes account for between 20% and 80% of petrol pump prices in certain countries. He also said several African countries impose multiple taxes on petroleum products.

What the minister said

Oyedele said his comments had been misrepresented. “In my interview with ARISE News, I was clear: a fuel tax is not on the table,” he said. He added that imposing an additional tax on petrol under current economic conditions would be insensitive to Nigerians still dealing with the effects of subsidy removal. “Having removed the fuel subsidy, it would be insensitive for government to impose a fuel tax at this time,” he stated.

He explained that introducing a fuel tax while petrol subsidies were still in place would have been counterproductive, because the government would effectively have been paying the tax itself. He argued that the priority should be to grow incomes faster than prices rise rather than suppress prices.

How the reports started

The reports followed Oyedele’s comments during the IMF and World Bank meetings in Bangkok. His comments were interpreted in some reports as suggesting that the government could introduce a fuel tax once economic conditions improved and household incomes increased. The minister’s latest clarification rejected that interpretation and insisted the government had not announced plans to introduce the levy.

Separate reports have also addressed why Nigeria printed over N30 trillion in three years and a fact-check of an ADC senator’s claim that the Nigeria Tax Law forces a 25% tax on all earnings.

Cost of living pressure

The controversy comes amid concerns about living costs after petrol subsidies were removed in 2023. The removal contributed to higher transport and operating costs for households and businesses. Earlier, Oyedele warned that restoring petrol subsidies could push the naira as low as N4,000 to the dollar. He said even a hint of policy reversal would be enough to rattle financial markets. He made the remarks at a press briefing after the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Bangkok, Thailand, on Monday, October 19, according to a BusinessDay report.

For Nigerian businesses and consumers, the denial removes, for now, the risk of an additional petrol tax on top of the higher pump prices that followed subsidy removal. The naira outlook remains tied to policy consistency, especially around subsidies, which the minister says markets are watching closely.