Nigeria has been declared a poor country by the presidency.

This revelation came from Taiwo Oyedele, Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, during an interview with ChannelsTV on Friday evening.

Oyedele expressed concerns over the nation’s current revenue challenges, highlighting that despite its potential for wealth, Nigeria remains poor.

He noted that the combined budgets of the Federal Government and states, totaling around N44 trillion (approximately $30 billion), are relatively small when compared to other countries and cities. “That $30 billion is even less than the budget of Kenya, which is around $32 billion. It is barely a quarter of South Africa’s budget at $130 billion. And of course, it’s even less than the budget of New York City, not even just New York State. So, clearly, Nigeria is a poor country with the potential to be a wealthy country,” Oyedele stated.

Despite the fiscal challenges, Oyedele dismissed the idea of introducing more taxes as a solution.

“We do believe based on the analysis we have done and the data available to us that the right way to go is not to introduce more taxes,” he said. He emphasized the importance of having fewer, broad-based taxes that are easy to collect and do not burden the lower segments of society.

“By using data, intelligence, and technology, we can close the tax gap so that people who have not been paying before begin to pay – who have been identified as people who should be paying – and the poor people should be legitimately exempted, particularly nano, micro businesses, and low-income earners.”

Oyedele believes that with these measures, Nigeria can more than double its revenue within two to three years.