President Bola Tinubu has nominated the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, as Minister of State for Finance.
Oyedele is set to replace Dr Doris Anite-Uzoka, who has been redeployed to the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning as Minister of State, her third portfolio under the current administration.
The President conveyed the nomination to the Senate in a letter addressed to Senate President Godswill Akpabio on Monday, according to a statement by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
Oyedele, 50, hails from Ikaram in Akoko, Ondo State. An economist, accountant and public policy expert, he chaired the committee that spearheaded a comprehensive overhaul of Nigeria’s tax system.
The committee, inaugurated in August 2023, produced four executive bills that consolidated more than 60 taxes into fewer than 10 statutes. The reforms introduced a zero income tax rate for Nigerians earning ₦800,000 annually or less and exempted small businesses with turnover below ₦50 million from company income tax, capital gains tax and development levy.
The Tax Reform Acts, which took effect on January 1, 2026, also provide a 50 per cent tax deduction for companies hiring new workers over a three-year period, a 50 per cent deduction for wage increases for the lowest-paid employees, and a five-year corporate tax holiday for agricultural enterprises.
Oyedele obtained a Higher National Diploma in Accountancy and Finance from Yaba College of Technology before earning a BSc in Applied Accounting from Oxford Brookes University. He has also completed executive education programmes at the London School of Economics, Yale University, the Gordon Institute of Business Science and the Harvard Kennedy School.
He spent 22 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers, joining the firm in 2001 and rising to become Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader before his appointment to head the tax reform committee.
Currently a professor at Babcock University in Ogun State and a visiting scholar at the Lagos Business School, Oyedele is expected, if confirmed, to oversee the implementation of the tax reforms he championed as the government intensifies efforts to boost revenue generation and deepen economic reforms.
Dr Anite-Uzoka, who previously served as Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment before her appointment to the Finance Ministry, will now serve in the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning.
The Ministry of Finance is led by Wale Edun as substantive minister and is responsible for fiscal policy, revenue mobilisation, debt management and broader economic planning.
The Senate is expected to screen and confirm Oyedele’s nomination in the coming weeks.
