5% fuel surcharge not introduced by Tinubu govt, its an old policy FG clarifies

5% fuel surcharge not introduced by Tinubu govt, its an old policy FG clarifies

The Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, has clarified that the recently debated 5 percent fuel surcharge was not introduced by the Bola Tinubu administration but dates back to 2007.

Speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Tuesday, Oyedele explained that although the law was enacted in 2007, it was not implemented at the time because the government was still subsidizing fuel.

“One very important message for people to know is that this surcharge was not introduced by this government. It was introduced in 2007. And then it was not implemented because the government was subsidising fuel,” he said.

In recent days, reports about the tax, expected to take effect in January 2026, have sparked public backlash.

The measure would impose a 5 percent surcharge on every litre of fuel purchased, a move critics have described as ill-timed given the current economic hardship.

Oyedele further explained that the surcharge was not part of the original tax reform bills signed into law earlier in the year but emerged during legislative deliberations.

“While we were doing this tax reform, it was not even in the original proposal, so it was not like the President proposed it to the National Assembly. But in the process of working on the bills, these issues came up, and then the decision was made that we should not have different agencies collecting taxes,” he said.