Tinubu Swears in Oyedele as Minister of State for Finance

Tinubu Swears in Oyedele as Minister of State for Finance

President Bola Tinubu on Monday formally sworn in Taiwo Oyedele as the new Minister of State for Finance at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja.

The brief ceremony took place at the President’s office around 2:30 pm, a source who attended the event told reporters. Oyedele and his wife were cleared by Villa security shortly before the ceremony, with the minister in a navy blue suit and his wife in traditional white attire.

Oyedele’s swearing-in comes five days after the Senate confirmed his nomination.

On March 12, the upper chamber approved his appointment through a voice vote following a two-hour screening session. Senate President Godswill Akpabio announced the confirmation after members adopted the Committee of the Whole’s recommendation.

President Tinubu had initially sent Oyedele’s nomination to the Senate on March 3, in line with Section 147(2) of the 1999 Constitution.

Hailing from Ikaram, Akoko in Ondo State, Oyedele, 50, brings over two decades of experience in fiscal policy and tax administration.

Prior to his ministerial appointment, he chaired the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, which overhauled Nigeria’s tax system.

The committee, inaugurated in August 2023, produced four bills that consolidated more than 60 taxes into fewer than 10 laws, including the Nigeria Tax Bill, Nigeria Tax Administration Bill, Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Bill, and Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Bill.

These bills were passed by the National Assembly in 2025 and signed into law by President Tinubu on June 26, 2025, taking effect January 1, 2026.

The reforms introduced zero income tax for Nigerians earning N800,000 annually or less and exempted small businesses with turnover below N50 million from company income tax, capital gains tax, and withholding tax, while encouraging employment and wage growth.

Before joining the tax reform committee, Oyedele spent 22 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers, rising to Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader. He holds an HND in Accountancy and Finance from Yaba College of Technology and a BSc in Applied Accounting from Oxford Brookes University, and has completed executive programmes at the London School of Economics, Yale University, the Gordon Institute of Business Science, and Harvard Kennedy School.

He also serves as a professor at Babcock University and is a visiting scholar at the Lagos Business School. Oyedele replaces Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite, who has been redeployed to the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, marking her third portfolio in the current administration.

During his Senate screening, Oyedele described his nomination as “a call to serve at a critical time when Nigeria faces significant fiscal challenges and remarkable opportunities.”

He highlighted his experience across governments, multilateral institutions, global corporations, academia, and public policy, emphasizing a career focused on fiscal governance and economic transformation.