FG to begin tax collection from all income earners, including sex workers

The Federal Government of Nigeria has announced plans to extend tax collection to all income earners, including commercial sex workers, beginning January 2026.

At a recent event held by the Redeemed Christian Church of God, City of David parish in Lagos, Taiwo Oyedele, Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, detailed the new tax law reforms signed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in June 2025.

These reforms consolidate four major legislations, the Nigerian Tax Act (NTA), Nigerian Tax Administration Act (NTAA), Nigerian Revenue Service (Establishment) Act (NRSEA), and Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Act (JRBEA).The NTA and NTAA will take effect on January 1, 2026, while the NRSEA and JRBEA came into force on June 26, 2025. The reforms remove distinctions between “legitimate” and “illegitimate” forms of work, emphasizing income as the basis for taxation.

Ogedele explained that anyone earning income, regardless of the source, will be liable to pay taxes under the new framework. This notably includes commercial sex workers, often referred to locally as “runs girls”, as well as social media influencers and remote workers earning foreign currency.

If someone is rendering a service, such a person will pay tax. There’s this extreme example that you probably should not even say in a church, but just to bring it home, if somebody is doing runs with girls… They go and look for men to sleep with. You know, that’s a service. They will pay tax on it – Ogedele

He emphasized, that one thing about the tax law is that it does not separate what things are done with are legitimate.

Oyedele also noted that the reforms will ease the tax burden on 90 percent of Nigerian workers, focusing the tax on revenue from diverse income streams.

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