According to the group, Nigeria’s crisis is not rooted in insufficient taxation but in criminal mismanagement, unprecedented corruption, nepotism, and elite capture of the state.
The Gani Fawehinmi Memorial Organization (GAFAMORG) has rejected the proposed tax reform law being advanced by the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, describing it as an IMF–World Bank–driven agenda designed to deepen poverty and further exploit the Nigerian people.
In a statement jointly signed by its Chairman, Babatunde Agunbiade, and the Public Relations Officer, Adeoye Ade-Adewumi, the organisation warned that Nigeria is being pushed to the edge not by fate, but by deliberate policy choices of a ruinous ruling class acting in concert with foreign economic orthodoxies that have failed people repeatedly.
GAFAMORG said the proposed tax law is not a homegrown response to Nigeria’s economic challenges but a recycled fiscal template inspired by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, institutions whose prescriptions, it noted, have historically weakened national sovereignty and punished the poor.
The statement read, "This tax law is an attempt to impose additional burdens on an already over-taxed, over-exploited, and over-suffering Nigerian people."
According to the group, Nigeria’s crisis is not rooted in insufficient taxation but in criminal mismanagement, unprecedented corruption, nepotism, and elite capture of the state.
It accused the Tinubu administration of refusing to confront massive tax evasion by the wealthy, excessive tax waivers granted to multinational corporations, and large-scale looting through inflated contracts and opaque concessions.
Instead, GAFAMORG alleged, the government is targeting workers, small traders, and struggling households for further extraction.
The organisation also raised alarm over the operation of Free Trade Zones across the country, describing them as “tax sanctuaries for the rich.”
It said while ordinary Nigerians are subjected to aggressive and often extortionate tax enforcement, powerful corporations enjoy sweeping exemptions, weak oversight, and easy profit repatriation with minimal contribution to national revenue.
“This is fiscal injustice institutionalized,” the group declared.
GAFAMORG further criticised Nigeria’s tax administration system, describing it as broken and lacking credibility.
It listed overlapping taxes, harassment by revenue agents, weak accountability, and lack of transparency as core issues that must be addressed before any discussion of new taxes.
“To do otherwise is economic violence against the poor,” the statement warned.
The group also pointed to Nigeria’s history with IMF- and World Bank-inspired reforms, asking Nigerians to reflect on the outcomes of past policies such as Structural Adjustment, privatization, and subsidy removal.
“Where are the dividends of past IMF inspired reforms? Did Structural Adjustment reduce poverty? Did privatization deliver electricity, water, or jobs? Did subsidy removals bring prosperity? The answer is NO," it said.
GAFAMORG said, adding that such reforms have consistently shrunk the middle class, expanded poverty, enriched a tiny elite, and weakened Nigeria’s productive capacity.
"Each cycle of IMF/World Bank–inspired reform has shrunk the middle class, expanded poverty, enriched a tiny elite, and weakened Nigeria’s productive capacity," the group said.
Issuing what it described as a warning to the public, the organisation urged Nigerians to be vigilant against what it called agents of the ruling class embedded in the media, civil society, and policy spaces, whose role it said is to brand exploitation as reform and suffering as sacrifice.
“We warn Nigerians to be vigilant. Agents of the ruling class are everywhere — in the media, online spaces, policy forums, and civil society — hired to hoodwink the people, to brand exploitation as “reform” and suffering a "sacrifice”.
"Let it be known: Those who support this unjust tax law, defend it, sanitize it, or act as its propagandists are objectively standing against the Nigerian people.They may cloak themselves in technocratic language, but history will remember them as enemies of social justice," the group said.
Invoking the legacy of the late human rights lawyer Chief Gani Fawehinmi, the organisation called on Nigerians to reject the tax law completely, mobilize civic and legal resistance, and demand its withdrawal.
The group said, “In the tradition of Chief Gani Fawehinmi—whose life taught us that silence in the face of injustice is complicity—we call on Nigerians to totally reject this tax law.
"Nigerians must mobilize civic, legal, media, and popular resistance and demand the immediate withdrawal of the bill.
"We must insist on justice before taxation and refuse to become victims of economic experimentation.
"This law must not see the light of day.
"Nigeria does not need IMF-approved hardship. Nigeria needs justice, accountability, equity, and people-centered governance."