Finance Minister Wale Edun has “clarified that there are no immediate plans” to implement the “proposed 5 per cent tax on petroleum products.”
Speaking in Abuja on Tuesday, the Minister explained that while the policy is included in the new “tax administration set to take effect on January 1, 2026,” its implementation will not proceed without “all formal processes involved.”
Edun clarified that the surcharge is a “long-standing provision,” originally introduced in 2007 under the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) Act, and is not a new tax from President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
Its inclusion in the 2025 Act is aimed at “consolidating and harmonizing existing laws” for clarity and compliance.
The minister said, “The tax reform bills and the tax act would not become operational until January 1, 2026, and the 5 per cent fuel surcharge which is mentioned therein will not automatically come into effect. There is even a process. Before any surcharge can come into effect it requires the commencement order from the honourable Minister of Finance and this indeed must be published in a gazette, so it is not automatic that we will wake up on January 1 and there is a new tax. There is a whole formal process involved and as at today no order has been issued, no is being prepared and there is no immediate plan to implement any surcharge.”
The minister’s clarification came after the Trade Union Congress (TUC) on Monday “rejected the 5 per cent tax,” calling it a “reckless proposal” which is “nothing but an act of economic wickedness against already overburdened Nigerians.”
The union said that the policy, if implemented, would “compound suffering, cripple businesses, and push millions of citizens deeper into poverty.”
It stated that the Federal Government “cannot continue to use Nigerians as sacrificial lambs for its economic experiments.”
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