Nigeria truck drivers spend over N450,00 as levies to transport yam from north to south — Taiwo Oyedele

The Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, has disclosed that a truck driver spends more than N450,000 as levies to transport food items such as yams from the northern part of the country to the south.

Oyedele shared this information while speaking at the 2024 annual cooperate forum hosted by Access Bank in Lagos.

The committee head said the multiplicity in taxes most of which are not official have added to the high prices of goods and services in the country.

According to him, it’s important that the country diagnose its tax and fiscal policies to ensure economic growth and development.

“We have over sixty official taxes. Unofficially, we counted more than 200 taxes. Like the Minister of Finance said, more than percent of our revenues from taxes come from less than 10 taxes. Why do we have over 200? That’s insane.  

“Anything that moves has a tax. There is tax for wheelbarrow, bicycle, TV etc. If you want transport yams for the north to the south, some of the truckers we spoke to budgeted more than four fifty thousand naira, just to pay legal and illegal taxes along the way.  

“It’s important that we diagnose our problems probably. Otherwise, our intentions are irrelevant. If you diagnose your problems correctly, your outcomes will be very different from your aspirations,”  Oyedele said.