Tinubu kicked against Obasanjo’s fuel tax policy in 2003

Tinubu kicked against Obasanjo’s fuel tax policy in 2003 – Rufai Oseni

Nigerian journalist Rufai Oseni has stirred fresh debate on President Bola Tinubu’s stance toward fuel taxation, pointing to what he described as a contradiction between Tinubu’s past and present positions.

In a post on Friday, Oseni reminded Nigerians that Tinubu, as governor of Lagos State in 2003, strongly opposed former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s proposed fuel tax, only to introduce a 5% surcharge on refined fuels in 2025 as President.

“The same President Tinubu that said he would challenge the legality of fuel tax under Obasanjo now wants to give us fuel tax in Nigeria!” Oseni wrote on his X handle, a remark that has since drawn reactions from opposition figures and civil society groups.

Back in 2003, Obasanjo’s plan to raise petrol prices from ₦26 to ₦40 per litre through subsidy cuts and fuel tax provoked nationwide protests led by the Nigeria Labour Congress. Tinubu, then a key figure in the Alliance for Democracy, criticised the move as an unnecessary hardship on citizens and even threatened legal action against the policy. His opposition aligned with his broader resistance to Obasanjo’s central policies, including a Supreme Court battle over Lagos’s withheld local government funds.

More than two decades later, Tinubu in June 2025 signed four tax reform bills into law, including the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, which introduced a 5% surcharge on petrol, diesel, and aviation fuel. Household kerosene, cooking gas, and compressed natural gas (CNG) were exempted. According to the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, the new levy is intended to fund clean energy projects and transport infrastructure.

With petrol already selling at around ₦950 per litre following subsidy removal in 2023, the additional surcharge could push prices up by ₦45 per litre, sparking backlash across the country.

Opposition leaders have condemned the policy. Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, described it as a “cruel burden” on struggling Nigerians, questioning why the government was imposing new taxes despite exceeding revenue targets. The African Democratic Congress also called it “deeply insensitive,” citing the country’s ₦21.22 trillion budget shortfall and debt projections above ₦150 trillion in 2025.

Similarly, Salihu Danlami of the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership said while the goal of clean energy is laudable, “transferring the cost of transition to poor Nigerians is unjust.”