The Federal Government says it has no immediate plan to enforce the five per cent fuel surcharge contained in the newly signed Tax Administration Act 2025. Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, made this known on Tuesday at a news conference in Abuja. He explained that the surcharge was not a new policy of President Bola Tinubu’s administration but a long-standing provision first introduced in 2007 under the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) Act. Its inclusion in the 2025 Act, he said, was simply to consolidate and harmonise existing laws for clarity and easier compliance. “It is important to make this distinction: the inclusion of the surcharge in the 2025 Nigeria Tax Administration Act does not translate to the automatic introduction of a new tax,” Edun said. “It doesn’t mean fresh taxation automatically.” The minister added that the new law would only take effect on January 1, 2026, and even then, the surcharge could only be implemented through a commencement order issued by the finance minister and published in an official gazette. “There is a whole formal process involved, and as of today, no order has been issued, none is being prepared and there is no plan. There is no immediate plan to implement any surcharge,” he stressed. Edun further explained that the administration’s broader tax reforms are aimed at overhauling Nigeria’s fragmented tax system. He noted that the Tax Administration Act is one of four new legislative instruments designed to improve transparency, ease compliance for businesses and individuals, and modernise revenue collection. The other laws, according to him, are the Revenue Service Bill, the Joint Revenue Board Bill, and the overarching Tax Reform Bill.