President Bola Tinubu swore in Taiwo Oyedele as minister of state for finance at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja.
The swearing-in ceremony took place at the president’s office at approximately 2:30 pm on Monday.
It comes five days after the Senate approved Oyedele’s nomination.
Our correspondent had previously spotted Oyedele and his wife being cleared by Villa security at around 2:09 p.m., with the new minister dressed in a navy blue suit and his wife in white traditional garb.
On Wednesday, March 12, the Senate confirmed Oyedele’s appointment by voice vote after a two-hour-long screening session.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio announced the confirmation after the Committee of the Whole approved the recommendation.
On March 3, Tinubu submitted Oyedele’s nomination to the Senate in a letter to Akpabio, requesting confirmation under Section 147(2) of the 1999 Constitution.
Oyedele, 50, is from Ikaram, Akoko, Ondo State, and brings almost two decades of experience in fiscal policy and tax administration to the position.
Prior to his appointment, he chaired the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, which led to a significant revamp of Nigeria’s tax structure.
The committee, established in August 2023, issued four executive bills that combined more than 60 levies into fewer than ten statutes and implemented major reforms, including a zero-income tax for Nigerians earning N800,000 or less per year.
The four bills: the Nigeria Tax Bill, the Nigeria Tax Administration Bill, the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Bill, and the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Bill, were passed by the National Assembly in 2025 after extensive debates.
Tinubu signed the bills into law on June 26, 2025, and the Tax Reform Acts took effect on January 1, 2026, marking a significant shift in Nigeria’s tax regime.
The reforms also exempted small enterprises with a turnover of less than N50 million from corporate income tax, capital gains tax, and withholding tax, while giving incentives for job creation and salary increases.
Before being appointed to lead the tax reform committee, Oyedele worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers for 22 years, rising to the positions of fiscal policy partner and Africa tax leader.
He has a Higher National Diploma in Accountancy and Finance from Yaba College of Technology and a B.Sc. in Applied Accounting from Oxford Brookes University.
The incoming minister has also taken executive education courses at the London School of Economics, Yale University, the Gordon Institute of Business Science, and the Harvard Kennedy School.
He is currently a lecturer at Babcock University and a visiting scholar at the Lagos Business School.
Oyedele succeeds Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite, who has been transferred to the Ministry of Budget and National Planning as Minister of State, marking her third position in the current administration.
Speaking 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.”
“With over two decades of experience working with national governments, multilateral institutions, and global corporations, my journey across the private sector, academia, and public policy has focused on fiscal governance and economic transformation,” he told the lawmakers.
