On the evening of July 1, 1964, a weary but elated Lyndon B. Johnson walked into his White House residence after a day of frantic vote-counting on Capitol Hill. His political adversaries in the Senate had finally dropped their 114-day filibuster, clearing the way for the passage of a law that would outlive him, the Civil Rights Act.
White House Staffers from the era recalled the President pacing the halls, running the numbers aloud, savouring the imminent victory with the impatience of a 10-year-old on Christmas Eve.
When he finally signed the bill the next afternoon, he called it “the proudest moment of my Presidency,” the East Room still crackling with the tension of the political fight that had preceded the ceremony. Those who recounted the eve of the big day knew the real high came the night before, when the Civil Rights Bill turned from mirage to certainty.
I saw a hint of that same restless glee on President Bola Tinubu’s face last Thursday. For months, his bundle of tax-reform bills was the subject of a heated tussle between northern governors, an impatient National Assembly and a citizenry suspicious of anything with the word “tax.”
The Taiwo Oyedele committee had worked for nearly two years, from ideation, stakeholder engagement, to drafting the bills for Senate assent. However, as it is in a genuinely democratic process, the path from Bill to Act is like running through a gauntlet. You know the story. The bills sparked heated debate, particularly around the revenue-sharing structure, which governors from the North opposed. They warned that a shift toward derivation-based allocations, especially with VAT, could tilt fiscal balance in favour of southern states with stronger consumption bases.
After prolonged dialogue, the VAT rate remained at 7.5 per cent and a new exemption was introduced to shield minimum wage earners from personal income tax. By May, the National Assembly passed the harmonised versions with broad support, driven in part by pressure from economic stakeholders and international observers who welcomed the clarity and efficiency the reforms promised.
By Thursday afternoon, an excited Tinubu strolled into his office complex, appending the green pen onto the draft bills with a grin that needed no caption. A day earlier, the Presidency announced the signing in a statement. But that wasn’t enough. The President felt the news wasn’t loud enough for those at the back. So, he tweeted hours before, like a bride counting down to her big day. After the singing, he revisited X and wrote: “I have just signed into Law, the four fiscal reforms bills. It is a NEW DAWN for Nigeria.” Two hours later, he posted again, “Earlier, I signed into law four historic tax and fiscal bills at Aso Villa…” this time with pictures. The tweets read like the exhale of a man who had paced his own bedroom, counting votes.
But what did he actually sign? Think of it as shooing away four birds feeding on your grains with one stone. The new Nigeria Tax Act simplifies who pays what and where. The Tax Administration Act gives the rules longer arms and a firmer grip so evaders no longer flee. The Revenue Service Act upgrades the old FIRS into an autonomous body with its own authority and independence.
And the Joint Revenue Board Act requires state and federal agencies to use the same scoreboard. Touted for its simplicity, this means fewer forms, fewer tax touts, fewer levies weighing heavily on small businesses, plus an online portal promising to make the process as efficient as ever.
The celebration, however, rarely comes in a single file in Nigerian politics. Tinubu’s green ink had hardly dried when two political combatants from Rivers State sneaked into the Villa at midnight. On one side was FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, the restless political wrestler. On the other hand, Governor Sim Fubara, his estranged protégé-turned-rival. Their dispute had crippled governance in Rivers state and even began to clog its oil arteries for months.
That Thursday night, Tinubu played the role of arbiter. The two men had agreed to terms many perceive as a one-sided acquiescence from Fubara. Sources say the suspended Governor will be reinstated and “allowed” to conclude his far-gone tenure and forgo re-election in 2027. They left the Villa with smiles and a truce, crediting the President’s “fatherly guidance.”
The President’s men said he hit two milestones—one economic, one political last week. But I’m curious as to why both victories unfolded days after Tinubu handed the ECOWAS gavel to Sierra Leone’s Julius Maada Bio. For 24 months, he juggled regional coups, sanctions, and keeping old neighbours from throwing tomatoes at one another. Was his sudden burst of domestic victory related to handing over the heavy ECOWAS cap? It’s all debatable. But one could argue that the President is now free from playing West Africa’s big brother and is briefly looking inwards now.
Credit:Punch