By Umeh Clinton
As the 2027 political season gathers momentum in Enugu State, politicians will understandably make promises, draw contrasts and attempt to convince voters that they possess the answers to the state’s challenges.
That is democracy.
But democracy also demands something more important: honesty with the people.
It is against this background that the recent claim by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Chief Uche Nnaji, and his supporters that there would be “no more tax” under his proposed administration deserves serious scrutiny.
It is a politically attractive slogan. It is also a promise that requires the people of Enugu State to pause and ask a simple but fundamental question:
If government will not collect taxes, how exactly will government sustainably finance the roads, schools, hospitals, security, water, transport systems, workers’ salaries and other public services that politicians promise during campaigns?
This is not an argument for oppressive taxation. Far from it.
It is an argument for responsible taxation, efficient revenue collection, accountability and prudent management of public resources.
And, importantly, the facts surrounding Enugu’s current revenue trajectory do not support the simplistic narrative that Governor Peter Mbah’s administration has merely increased taxes and burdened the people.
The Enugu revenue story is more complicated than the political slogan
The figures released by the Enugu State Internal Revenue Service (ESIRS) tell a remarkable story.
Enugu’s internally generated revenue rose from ₦26.8 billion in 2022 to ₦37.4 billion in 2023, ₦180.5 billion in 2024 and ₦406.77 billion in 2025.
But here is the part that political rhetoric often conveniently ignores.
Of the ₦406.77 billion generated in 2025, only ₦51.5 billion, or 12.6 per cent, came from tax revenue, while ₦355.2 billion, representing 87.4 per cent, came from non-tax revenue.
That is hardly evidence that Enugu’s extraordinary IGR growth simply came from squeezing taxpayers harder.
Indeed, ESIRS Chairman Emmanuel Nnamani expressly attributed the increase to technology, electronic payment systems, widening the tax net without increasing the rate and reforms designed to block revenue leakages.
Nnamani put it even more plainly:
“What we have done with tax revenue and by extension the non-tax revenue is like fees, levies, and assets is to plug the leakages in revenues, introducing technology to ensure traceability, accountability and transparency.”
That distinction matters.
There is a world of difference between increasing the tax rate and ensuring that people and businesses who are already legally required to pay taxes actually pay what they owe.
There is also a difference between creating new taxes and recovering government revenues that previously disappeared through leakages.
Mbah’s own explanation
Governor Peter Mbah himself has repeatedly made this distinction.
In November 2025, while reviewing his administration’s performance, Mbah said Enugu’s IGR had increased by more than 450 per cent within two years but stressed that the growth “did not come from new taxation.”
According to him, the increase resulted substantially from plugging leakages and reviving moribund state-owned enterprises and assets, including Sunrise Flour Mills, United Palm Products, Nigergas Company and Hotel Presidential.
That is an important policy direction: make government revenue work harder rather than simply making citizens pay more.
The state’s own 2026 revenue projections also illustrate the ambition of the reform programme, with the government projecting ₦870 billion in IGR while saying tax revenue could actually decline under what it described as a pro-citizen tax reform, even as compliance improves.
So, when politicians tell Enugu people that the answer to their economic difficulties is simply “no more tax,” they owe the electorate considerably more than a slogan.
They owe them a workable fiscal plan.
But where does the money for development come from?
This is where the conversation must move beyond political propaganda.
Under the Mbah administration, Enugu has embarked on a large-scale capital investment programme.
The state’s proposed 2026 budget was approximately ₦1.62 trillion, with about 80 per cent allocated to capital expenditure and 20 per cent to recurrent expenditure.
The administration has cited investments including the 260 Smart Green Schools, 260 Type-2 Primary Healthcare Centres, Enugu Air, five modern bus terminals, CNG buses, the International Conference Centre, the International Hospital, roads, water projects, digital infrastructure and other projects as part of its transformation programme.
Enugu Air, for instance, received its Air Operator Certificate from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority in March 2026 after completing the certification process in five months and three weeks.
The government has also reported extensive road construction, transport reforms, agricultural investments, Smart Green Schools and healthcare projects across the state. These are government-reported achievements and, as with any administration, citizens should continue to scrutinise their quality, cost and sustainability.
But one question remains unavoidable:
Can a government sustainably finance this scale of public investment without a dependable revenue base?
The answer is no.
There is no serious economic model called “no tax”
Perhaps this is the most important point that Enugu voters must understand before 2027.
There is no credible modern economy in which government simply says: “We will collect no taxes.”
The International Monetary Fund states the issue rather bluntly: governments need money to build roads, staff schools and hospitals, fund courts and provide public safety, and while governments can borrow or receive aid, taxation is the most sustainable source of financing public services.
The World Bank similarly warns that developing countries often struggle to raise sufficient tax revenue to finance education, infrastructure and essential public services, and says governments need to strengthen domestic revenue while keeping tax systems efficient and fair.
The OECD’s comparative evidence is even more instructive. Across OECD countries, taxes accounted for an average 60.5 per cent of government revenue in 2023, making taxation the single most important source of government revenue in those economies.
So the serious question for Enugu is not:
“Tax or no tax?”
The serious questions are:
What taxes?
Who pays them?
How much do they pay?
Are the rates fair?
Are leakages being blocked?
Are taxpayers getting value for their money?
Is government spending the revenue prudently?
That is the conversation mature democracies have.
Even the so-called “tax-free” countries are not really tax-free
Supporters of the “no tax” philosophy sometimes point to countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia or Qatar as examples of places where citizens enjoy little or no personal income tax.
But this argument collapses under closer examination.
Saudi Arabia does not impose personal income tax on employment earnings, but it has a 15 per cent VAT, corporate income tax for applicable businesses, withholding taxes, customs duties and other fiscal instruments.
The United Arab Emirates does not impose personal income tax on individuals, but it operates a 5 per cent VAT and has a federal corporate tax regime.
Qatar does not impose income tax on employed individuals’ salaries, but Qatar-source corporate income is generally subject to a 10 per cent corporate tax, with a minimum 35 per cent rate applying to certain oil and petroleum operations. It also imposes customs and excise taxes.
And there is another crucial difference.
These Gulf economies have enormous oil and gas revenues and sovereign wealth resources that can substitute for some forms of taxation.
Enugu State does not own an oil field generating billions of dollars annually.
It cannot print money.
It cannot simply sell crude oil.
It cannot permanently depend on borrowing.
And it cannot reasonably promise Scandinavian-quality public services while simultaneously promising voters that government will collect nothing.
That is not economics.
That is campaign poetry.
The real challenge is not taxation — it is value
This is where politicians should be challenged.
If government collects taxes and citizens see no roads, no security, no healthcare, no schools and no economic opportunity, then people have every right to question the system.
But the answer to bad taxation is not necessarily zero taxation.
The answer is better taxation and better governance.
A government should broaden the tax base rather than disproportionately burden the few who are already compliant.
It should digitise collection.
It should eliminate multiple taxation.
It should block leakages.
It should make payment simple.
It should enforce the law fairly.
And, above all, it should demonstrate that public revenue is being converted into tangible public value.
That is precisely why the Enugu revenue figures deserve a more sophisticated political conversation.
The state says its reforms have produced massive increases in IGR while widening the tax net without increasing the rate and blocking leakages.
Whether every claim of achievement by the government withstands independent scrutiny is a separate matter—and citizens should continue asking hard questions.
But reducing the entire fiscal conversation to “Mbah increased taxes” is intellectually inadequate.
And promising “no more tax” without explaining how government will replace the revenue is equally inadequate.
2027 must be about reality, not slogans
Politics is not a competition to see who can make the most attractive promise.
It is a contest over who has the most credible plan to govern.
If Chief Uche Nnaji and his supporters believe Enugu can operate without taxes, then they should present the numbers.
How much will the state spend annually?
How much will come from FAAC?
How much from non-tax revenue?
How much from state-owned enterprises?
How much from investment returns?
How much from borrowing?
How much from royalties, fees and charges?
And, most importantly, how will the state finance its obligations if tax revenue is reduced to zero?
That is the standard every serious candidate should meet.
Enugu people should not be frightened into paying taxes they do not legally owe. Neither should they be persuaded to believe that government can deliver modern infrastructure and quality public services without a sustainable revenue base.
The people deserve relief from unnecessary taxation, not relief from reality.
They deserve a government that collects lawfully, spends prudently and accounts transparently.
They deserve leaders who understand that revenue is not government money—it is the people’s money entrusted to government.
And they deserve political campaigns based on evidence rather than fantasy.
The choice before Enugu
As 2027 approaches, the central question should therefore not be who can shout “no tax” the loudest.
It should be:
Who can build the most efficient, transparent, fair and productive revenue system while delivering measurable value to the people?
That is the conversation Enugu needs.
Because no serious nation survives indefinitely without taxation or another sustainable source of public revenue.
And Enugu, as a state aspiring to a $30 billion economy by 2031, cannot afford to build its political future on a fiscal illusion.
2027 should be a contest of ideas, numbers, competence and delivery—not a marketplace for impossible promises.
Reality, not propaganda, should guide our campaign.
Umeh Clinton, Public Affairs Analyst writes from Enugu
