The Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, has dismissed reports claiming that Nigerians’ bank accounts would be frozen or automatically debited from January 2026, describing such claims as false and misleading.
Oyedele made the clarification in a post on his X handle on Tuesday, emphasising that there is no provision in the new tax and financial reform laws authorising the freezing of bank accounts.
He wrote, “Don’t let anyone manipulate you. Your bank account is safe. Misinformation makes you panic and fear a reform that is designed to help you. When they tell you that your account will be frozen or automatically debited from January 2026, ask them for the evidence in the new law.”
Earlier, Oyedele had also dismissed fears that the government plans to deduct money directly from bank accounts, insisting that such claims are “false, dangerous and capable of destabilising the economy.”
Speaking during a media workshop on the new consolidated tax law on December 13, he stated that the warnings circulating on social media were rooted in ignorance and deliberate misinformation.
“Let me say this clearly: nobody — not FIRS, not CBN, not any government agency — has the power to debit your bank account,” Oyedele declared. “Whether you have ¦50,000 or ¦50 million, nobody is taking any money from your account. It is simply not true.”