Govt Sh*cks Nigerians: “Runs Girls Are Service Providers, They Must Pay Tax Nigerinas React

The Federal Government of Nigeria has announced that commercial sex workers will soon be required to pay taxes on income generated from their activities, under a new set of tax reforms being introduced by President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

This was disclosed by Taiwo Oyedele, Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, in a viral video from a tax education session hosted by the Redeemed Christian Church of God, City of David, Lagos.

Oyedele explained that beginning in 2026, the new law mandates taxes on any income derived from goods or services, regardless of the legitimacy of the business. According to him, tax law does not question whether the service provided is lawful or not—it only focuses on whether income was earned.

He clarified that money sent to family members or dependants as upkeep or gifts is not taxable, describing such transfers as “non-exchange transactions.” The sender, he stressed, should have already paid tax on the income before gifting it.

“If someone is engaged in runs, looking for men to sleep with, that’s considered a service, and they will be required to pay tax on it,” Oyedele said. “The law does not differentiate between whether the activity is legitimate or not; once income is earned, it is taxable.”

He, however, urged Nigerians not to see the reforms simply as a tool for government revenue collection, but as a holistic restructuring aimed at simplifying the tax system, improving compliance, and ultimately benefiting individuals, businesses, employees, and civil servants alike.

Highlighting the scale of the reforms, Oyedele noted that the new framework—containing more than 200 major changes across over 400 pages—is the most transformative in Nigeria’s history. He warned against reducing the reforms to a single issue, likening such a narrow view to the parable of the blind men and the elephant, where each drew a wrong conclusion from touching only one part of the animal.