By Peter Omopo
Minister-designate of State for Finance, Taiwo Oyedele, arrived at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja on Monday for his swearing-in ceremony by President Bola Tinubu.
Oyedele arrived at the Villa with his wife at about 2:09 pm and was cleared by security officials before proceeding into the premises. He was dressed in a navy blue suit, while his wife wore white traditional attire.
The swearing-in comes five days after the Senate confirmed his nomination and 13 days after President Tinubu first forwarded his name to the National Assembly for approval.
The Senate confirmed Oyedele’s appointment on Wednesday, March 12, following a screening that lasted more than two hours. Senate President Godswill Akpabio announced the confirmation after lawmakers adopted the recommendation of the Committee of the Whole through a voice vote.
President Tinubu had earlier transmitted Oyedele’s nomination to the Senate in a letter dated March 3, seeking confirmation in line with Section 147(2) of the 1999 Constitution.
Oyedele, 50, is from Ikaram in Akoko area of Ondo State and has more than two decades of experience in fiscal policy and tax administration. Before his nomination, he served as chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, where he led efforts to overhaul Nigeria’s tax system.
The committee, inaugurated in August 2023, drafted four executive bills that consolidated more than 60 different taxes into fewer than 10 statutes. Among the reforms introduced was the removal of income tax for Nigerians earning N800,000 annually or less.
The four bills—the Nigeria Tax Bill, the Nigeria Tax Administration Bill, the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Bill, and the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Bill—were passed by the National Assembly in 2025 after extensive debates. President Tinubu signed the bills into law on June 26, 2025, with the reforms taking effect on January 1, 2026.
The new tax regime also exempts small businesses with a turnover below N50 million from company income tax, capital gains tax and withholding tax, while introducing incentives aimed at boosting employment and wage increases.
Before leading the tax reform committee, Oyedele spent 22 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he rose to become Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader.
He holds a Higher National Diploma in Accountancy and Finance from Yaba College of Technology and a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Accounting from Oxford Brookes University. He has also attended executive education programmes at the London School of Economics, Yale University, the Gordon Institute of Business Science and the Harvard Kennedy School.
Oyedele currently serves as a professor at Babcock University and a visiting scholar at the Lagos Business School.
He will replace Doris Uzoka-Anite, who has been redeployed to the Ministry of Budget and National Planning as Minister of State.
During his Senate screening, Oyedele described his nomination as a call to serve at a critical time for Nigeria’s economy. He told lawmakers that his professional experience across the private sector, academia and public policy had been focused on fiscal governance and economic transformation.
Ondo State Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa was also seen arriving at the Presidential Villa at about 2:25 pm to attend the swearing-in ceremony.
