January 2027 will expose the government’s failure to assess the security impact of new tax laws – Omole

By Henry Oduah

Security consultant Charles Omole has criticized the Federal Government for failing to conduct a security impact assessment of the new tax laws.

On 26 June 2025, President Bola Tinubu signed four Tax Reform Bills into law: the Nigeria Tax Act (NTA), the Nigeria Tax Administration Act (NTAA), the Nigeria Revenue Service Act (NRSA) and the Joint Revenue Board Act (JRBA).

Speaking on the “Governance, Democracy and National Security” segment of The Platform, an annual Democracy Day programme, Dr Omole warned that the security implications of the new tax laws would become evident in January 2027.

“I have not seen any sign that the government has done any security impact assessment of those tax policies. Mark what I’m saying now: by January next year you will begin to see the security impact,” he said.

“Right now, because the enforcement of the new tax regime has been light‑touch, Nigerians are not reacting yet. Wait till January. I earlier said one consequence of the new tax policy is that Nigerians will begin to hold cash at home, not in their bank accounts. And if a lot more people hold cash at home, what does that mean? More robberies. So what have we put in place to pre‑empt that impact?”

Omole added that Nigeria must shift from viewing security as a force to viewing it as governance, noting that law‑enforcement units alone cannot ensure safety.

“Bad land policy can create conflict, bad education policy can produce and recruit extremists, bad urban planning can create ungoverned spaces, bad economic policy can turn desperation into violence. Bad justice delivery can turn victims into vigilantes. So security is the duty of every department of government. But that has not been the case in our country,” he said, urging that security become a shared responsibility across all government agencies.

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