President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has officially transmitted a letter to the Senate seeking the confirmation of tax expert Taiwo Oyedele as the Minister of State for Finance.
The nomination if confirmed by the Senate will increase Tinubu’s cabinet to 49.
Pan-Atlantic Kompass reports that Tinubu’s federal executive cabinet is the largest since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999.
Within the first 12 years of the Fourth Republic, the largest cabinet had 30 ministers. Former President Goodluck Jonathan was the first to have more than 30 ministers, with subsequent terms having more ministers.
Meanwhile, in a press statement issued by the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, and posted on the official website of the State House on Tuesday, Oyedele will replace Dr. Doris Anite-Uzoka, who has been redeployed to the Ministry of Budget and National Planning as Minister of State, her third portfolio in the administration.
The President on Tuesday conveyed Oyedele’s nomination to the Senate for confirmation in a letter to the President of rhe Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio.
Until Tinubu nominated Oyedele as a minister, he was the chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, which overhauled Nigeria’s tax system.
The 50-year-old is an economist, accountant, and public policy expert who led the overhaul of Nigeria’s tax system through the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms.
The committee, inaugurated in August 2023, delivered four executive bills that consolidated over 60 taxes into fewer than 10 statutes and introduced significant reforms, including zero income tax for Nigerians earning N800,000 annually or less.
The Tax Reform Acts, which became effective on January 1, 2026, also exempted small businesses with turnover below N50m from company income tax, capital gains tax, and development levy.
Other provisions include a 50 per cent tax deduction for companies hiring new workers for three years, a 50 per cent deduction for wage increases to the lowest-paid employees, and a five-year corporate tax holiday for agricultural enterprises.
Oyedele attended Yaba College of Technology, where he obtained a Higher National Diploma in Accountancy and Finance, before proceeding to Oxford Brookes University for a BSc in Applied Accounting.
He also completed executive education programmes at the London School of Economics, Yale University, the Gordon Institute of Business Science, and the Harvard Kennedy School.
Oyedele spent 22 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers, joining in 2001 and rising to become the Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader before his appointment to head the tax reform committee.
He is currently a professor at Babcock University in Ogun State and a visiting scholar at the Lagos Business School.
As Minister of State for Finance, Oyedele is expected to oversee the implementation of the tax reforms he championed, particularly as the government seeks to improve revenue generation and deepen economic reforms.
Anite-Uzoka, who is being redeployed to the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, previously served as Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment before she was appointed Minister of State for Finance.
The Senate is expected to screen and confirm Oyedele’s nomination in the coming weeks, following which he will be sworn in to assume his ministerial duties.
The Finance Ministry, currently led by Wale Edun as substantive minister, oversees fiscal policy, revenue mobilisation, debt management, and economic planning.
