Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, legal luminary Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) and tax scholar Prof. Abiola Sanni (SAN) have warned that Nigeria’s sweeping new tax laws risk faltering unless government urgently rebuilds public trust and proves that revenue will be used transparently and fairly.

They spoke at the Lagos State Professorial Chair in Tax and Fiscal Matters Public Lecture at the University of Lagos, where experts dissected the implications of the Nigeria Tax Act 2025, Nigeria Tax Administration Act 2025, Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Act 2025 and Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Act 2025, all scheduled to take effect from January 1, 2026.

Sanwo-Olu, represented by the Chairman of the Lagos Inland Revenue Service, Subair Ayodele, backed the reforms as vital to wean Nigeria off decades of dependence on oil and borrowing. He argued that the new regime, which consolidates multiple levies and brings the digital economy more firmly into the tax net, is designed to simplify a system he described as “complex, narrow and sometimes unfair.”

However, he stressed that technical soundness alone would not guarantee compliance. According to him, citizens must see visible improvements in infrastructure and services before they will willingly embrace higher or more efficiently collected taxes. He framed taxation as a partnership, not a punishment, insisting that only transparency, technology-driven administration and public education can broaden the tax base without overburdening existing payers.

Olanipekun, who chaired the event, cautioned that the reforms could provoke backlash if perceived as opaque or excessively centralised. Citing the 1929 Aba Women’s protest as a historical warning, he said taxation has always triggered resistance when fairness and legitimacy are in doubt. He questioned whether concentrating fiscal power in Abuja, while states struggle for autonomy, is compatible with genuine federalism.

He warned that allegations of post-legislative alterations and expanded enforcement powers for the Nigeria Revenue Service have deepened public anxiety, adding that “no tax architecture, however refined, can flourish where public trust is brittle.” He urged federal and state agencies to harmonise revenue measures in ways that respect state fiscal dignity and ensure every naira collected is traceable to public value.

Delivering the lecture, Prof. Sanni argued that the core challenge facing the reforms is credibility, not legality. He said many Nigerians doubt that taxes will translate into benefits, especially at the grassroots, and called for robust state-level reforms to curb multiple taxation, strengthen property and estate tax administration and empower state revenue boards.

While defending the timing of the laws and noting that low-income earners and about 90 per cent of businesses are largely protected, he warned that enforcement mechanisms such as deductions from states’ federal allocations could inflame tensions if underlying issues of trust and accountability remain unresolved.