Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has attributed the decline in the value of the naira to the economic policies of the previous administration, which printed and injected N22.7 trillion into the economy.

Dogara also described the foreign loan and crude oil-tied measures that sustained it as nothing short of voodoo economics. Noting that the policy under late President Muhammadu Buhari undermined the currency’s value, Dogara argued that the massive liquidity injection, coupled with dual exchange rates and unproductive forex allocations, left the nation’s economy teetering on the brink of collapse by the time President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assumed office.

Dogara stated this yesterday while delivering the maiden distinguished parliamentarian lecture organized by the House of Representatives Press Corps at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja.

His lecture, titled: ‘Navigating Tax Reform in Nigeria: Insights on President Tinubu’s Policies’, examined the origins, scope, and expected impact of the tax reforms encapsulated in the Nigeria Tax Act (NTA) 2025 and related legislation.

The former Speaker, who now chairs the board of the National Credit Guarantee Company, said President Tinubu inherited a troubled economy riddled with economic debris, including excessive deficit financing through Ways and Means, dual exchange rates that enriched a few at the expense of many.

“By the time President Tinubu took office, the economic debris of the nation had become too conspicuous to be ignored. N22.7 trillion had been printed and injected into the economy in the name of ways and means, thereby destroying the value of the naira in our pockets.

“Also, the dual exchange rate meant that some anointed people were making hundreds of millions of naira off forex allocations from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) without producing any goods or offering any services whatsoever, and tying our crude sales to foreign loans in the name of forward sales of crude was fast becoming the order of the day. Some of the foreign loans had been procured to help strengthen the Naira, a measure that could only be sustained by voodoo economics,” he stated.

He commended the current government for implementing urgent reforms to avert economic collapse, particularly the 2025 tax reform package.

Dogara stressed that the reforms aim to protect vulnerable Nigerians, encourage investment, enhance competitiveness, and provide the government with resources for infrastructure, education, healthcare, and security.

Addressing concerns over the five per cent fuel surcharge, Dogara said it was not a new tax, adding that it would exempt household energy products, like kerosene and LPG, and would only take effect under ministerial approval published in the official gazette.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, said Tinubu’s tax reforms were a decisive step towards simplifying compliance, broadening the tax net, and easing the burden on ordinary Nigerians.

Abbas, who was represented by the House Chairman, Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Akin Rotimi said the establishment of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms and the harmonization of tax collection processes set to take effect in January 2026, represented a significant intervention that promised to re-engineer the nation’s tax administration architecture for greater efficiency, fairness, and transparency.

Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Dr. Zacch Adedeji, called for stronger collaboration between the media and tax authorities in deepening public understanding of ongoing fiscal reforms.

“It is not enough to legislate. We must ensure implementation in a manner that benefits the Nigerian people. The law must not be selective. The rich, the big men and women who have enjoyed government privileges, must also be taxed fairly. They must pay back to the Nigerian people and the Nigerian state,” he stressed.

Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Council, Grace Ike, called on the government to ensure transparency, accountability, and effective deployment of tax revenues to infrastructure development as it pursues sweeping tax reforms under President Bola Tinubu. (The Guardian, but headline rejigged)