The federal government has begun a coordinated push to dismantle the country’s tangled web of multiple taxation, targeting over 60 federal, state, and local tax-collecting agencies whose levies are stifling the growth of Nigeria’s digital economy.
Key government officials, regulators and legal leaders, at the maiden edition of the NCC’s Annual Workshop for State Attorneys-General, held in Lagos on Wednesday, raised the alarm over the crippling impact of overlapping, inconsistent and often illegal taxes on the telecommunications sector, one of the fastest-growing segments of the national economy.
Taiwo Oyedele, chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, said the current tax system is outdated and visually mapped to absurdity, with more than 60 officially recognised taxes and over 200 additional unapproved or duplicated levies clogging Nigeria’s economic arteries.
Read also: FIRS adopts gender-disaggregated data across digital tax system
“We have visually mapped the absurdity: Over 60 officially approved taxes and levies across federal, state, and local governments. Add the unapproved ones, and that number balloons to more than 200. A single truck moving across Nigeria may carry 73 stickers and still face extortion. This madness must stop,” Oyedele stated.
He warned that the proliferation of taxes is suffocating small businesses, deterring investment, and undermining digital transformation. “You don’t tax your way out of poverty. You build your way out. Tax revenue is the fruit. But first, you must nurture the tree,” he said.
Oyedele revealed that under the Tinubu administration, Nigeria’s tax-to-GDP ratio has increased from under eight percent to 13.5 percent, not by taxing more, but by streamlining and exempting vulnerable groups.
“Now, 97 percent of the informal sector is exempt from taxes. Withholding tax has been eliminated for vulnerable sectors. We have started harmonising federal taxes and submitted constitutional amendments to rationalise state and local levies,” he said.
The tax committee’s reform agenda also targets archaic levies still in force, such as bicycle and wheelbarrow taxes, and aims to create a consolidated tax framework aligned with economic growth goals.
Aminu Maida, executive vice chairman and CEO of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), said that the telecommunications sector has been under siege from excessive taxation. He noted that with over 220 million active voice subscriptions and a broadband penetration rate of over 52 percent, the sector has the potential to drive inclusive growth, if it is not strangled by tax burdens.
Read also: Nigeria’s tax reform: Implications for the ICT and cybersecurity sector
“Streamlining taxation in the communications sector is urgent. The issue of multiple and inconsistent taxes continues to deter investment and delay infrastructure expansion. This is not just a regulatory issue, it is a national development challenge,” Maida stressed.
He cited incidents in Ogun state in 2024, where overlapping local government levies stalled telecom expansion projects, and in Kano in 2023, where base station vandalism was exacerbated by poor regulatory enforcement and policy inconsistency.
According to Maida, “The designation of communications infrastructure as Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII) under the 2024 Executive Order gives us a new framework to work with. But if we don’t align tax policy with digital goals, we’ll remain stuck.”
He called for a whole-of-government approach, including state and federal cooperation on uniform Right-of-Way policies, coordinated enforcement, and a streamlined digital tax code that encourages innovation and growth.
Lateef Fagbemi, attorney-general of the Federation and minister of Justice (SAN), warned that, “This transformation is being hindered by critical recurring challenges, including multiple taxation, vandalism of telecom infrastructure, and inconsistent state policies. These issues amount to economic sabotage.”
Reports showed that Nigeria’s telecom operators are currently saddled with over 49 different levies, including sanitation fees, signage tax, ecological levies, Right-of-Way charges, sewage fees, audit fees, employment development levies, and many others, often imposed without coordination or due process.
Read also: FG’s expanded digital tax net targets N230bn haul in 2025
In the first quarter (Q1) of 2023 alone, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that the information and communications sector contributed N119.87 billion in company income tax (CIT), further underscoring its central role in Nigeria’s economy.
Fagbemi called on attorneys-general from across Nigeria to drive legal harmonisation, protect digital rights, and enforce constitutional soundness in regulatory enforcement. “The justice sector is critical to regulating communications. It must uphold the rule of law, prevent exploitation of consumer rights, and streamline penal systems,” he said.
