President Bola Tinubu challenged Nigerians on Friday to reconcile their demand for modern infrastructure with a widespread reluctance to pay taxes, arguing that public services cannot be funded on goodwill alone.
Speaking at the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali, Rwanda, Tinubu drew a direct line between tax compliance and the government’s ability to deliver development from hospitals to highways.
“Nobody wants to pay taxes,” the president acknowledged, before pressing the point further. “Every human being expects development, but the question they don’t answer is how do you pay for it.”
He painted a picture of contradictions he says define public attitudes: citizens demanding well-equipped health facilities while resisting tax obligations, and communities wanting modern roads but objecting when construction affects their land.
Tinubu also used the COVID-19 pandemic as a reminder of how unpreparedness — particularly in pharmaceutical research and healthcare — can leave entire nations exposed. He argued that unpredictable global crises make forward-looking fiscal planning not just wise, but essential.
The president drew a sharp line on civic identity, declaring that tax payment is fundamental to citizenship itself. Those who neither pay taxes nor qualify for exemptions, he said, forfeit a core part of what it means to belong to the nation.
The remarks come as the Tinubu administration continues to push tax reform legislation aimed at broadening Nigeria’s revenue base — one of the narrowest among major economies relative to GDP.
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