Catholic Bishops in Nigeria’s Ibadan Province Call for Transparency, Humane Implementation of Tax Reforms

Ibadan, 21 January, 2026 / 6:48 PM

The Local Ordinaries in Nigeria’s Catholic Ibadan Ecclesiastical Province have called for transparency in the country’s ongoing tax reforms and humane implementation of the resulting laws.

In a joint communique shared with ACI Africa on Tuesday, January 20, the Catholic Church leaders also urged the government to allow the most vulnerable citizens the opportunity to adjust to the new tax regimes before the full enforcement of the laws takes effect.

“Fairness, transparency, and accountability must govern the conduct of government and the tax authorities in this entire process,” the Bishops emphasized after their January 19–20 meeting held at the Jubilee Center in the Catholic Archdiocese of Ibadan under the theme, “Sustaining Hope and Strengthening Our Good Efforts.”

While acknowledging government efforts to explain the merits and benefits of the new tax laws to the poor and the less privileged in the West African nation, the Church leaders from the Archdiocese of Ibadan and the Dioceses of Ilorin, Ondo, Oyo, Ekiti, and Osogbo said civic education should continue to ease public anxieties.

“The ongoing tax reforms have generated controversy across the country,” the Bishops said, alluding to the four tax reform bills that Nigeria’s President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, signed into law on 26 June 2025.

In their January 20 statement, they lamented what they termed as concerted efforts by “agents of misinformation to discredit the new scheme in spite of the consultations" that preceded the reforms on the taxation laws. 

“We urge the government and concerned authorities to continue to do all they can to allay the anxieties of the people, give the reforms a human face, and give the most vulnerable among us the latitude to get used to the new tax regimes before applying the full force of the law,” they appealed.

A report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) Nigeria on 27 June 2025 says the four tax laws, the Nigeria Tax Act (NTA), the Nigeria Tax Administration Act (NTAA), the Nigeria Revenue Service Act (NRSA), and the Joint Revenue Board Act (JRBA), “comprehensively overhaul the Nigerian tax landscape to drive economic growth, increase revenue generation, improve the business environment, and enhance effective tax administration across the different levels of government.”

The reformed tax laws, according to the PWC report, introduce several changes, including raising the capital gains tax for companies from 10 to 30 percent, imposing a 4 percent development levy, and expanding the list of zero-rated items “to cover essential goods and services such as food, medical products, educational materials, electricity services, medical equipment, and tuition fees.”

The new tax laws further clarify the distinction between residents and non-residents, stating that employment income in the African nation will, going forward, be taxed “only if the individual is resident in Nigeria or performs duties in the country without paying tax in their country of residence.”

Meanwhile, in their January 20 communique, the Nigerian Catholic Bishops called for a greater collaborative effort towards what they described as “rebuilding a welfarist society in Nigeria.”

“Much more still needs to be done to truly place Nigeria back on the path of progress and peace, as a country everyone can call home,” the Bishops said, adding that this “will require the cooperation of all segments and sectors of Nigerian society.”

They, however, emphasized that the government must fulfill its responsibility to provide security, basic healthcare, stable electricity, water, motorable roads, agricultural incentives, and employment opportunities.

The Nigerian Catholic Church leaders called on the government “to quickly address the strike of the health workers in Nigeria, which has lasted for almost two months and which has subjected the common people to considerable suffering and to scant access to healthcare, causing needless deaths and suffering.” 

“In spite of many commendable initiatives from the federal government to kickstart and energize many critical sectors in Nigeria, much more needs to be done,” they said.