By Abubakar Yunusa
Taiwo Oyedele, Chairman of Nigeria’s Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, has voiced concerns over the potential global repercussions of U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed tax policy.
In a statement shared via his X (formerly Twitter) handle, Oyedele addressed Trump’s recent announcement of an “External Revenue Service,” a policy designed to redirect tariffs and duties to boost the U.S. economy.
Trump stated that the plan aims to “tariff and tax other countries to enrich our citizens,” asserting that it would lead to “a massive amount of money pouring into our treasury coming from far.”
Oyedele warned that such a strategy could disrupt international trade and increase the complexity of the global tax system.
He stressed the need for countries like Nigeria to prepare for the potential ripple effects of the policy.
“This highlights the importance of Nigeria’s ongoing tax reforms,” he said.
“A more robust and adaptive tax system will enable Nigeria to navigate challenges and leverage opportunities that may arise from policies like this.”
Nigeria has been implementing fiscal reforms aimed at enhancing tax efficiency and boosting domestic revenue.
Oyedele underscored that proactive measures are essential to mitigate the impact of external policies on developing economies.
Trump’s proposed policy has sparked debate worldwide, with experts predicting significant implications for global trade dynamics if implemented.
With the sector at a crossroads, the coming months could prove pivotal in shaping the future landscape of Nigeria’s telecommunications industry.
In November, a ProPublica journalist highlighted erroneous Apple AI summaries of alerts from the New York Times app suggesting it had reported that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been arrested.
The BBC has not been able to independently verify the screenshots, and the New York Times declined to comment.
Reporters Without Borders, an organisation representing the rights and interests of journalists, called on Apple to disable the feature in December.
It said the attribution of a false headline about Mr Mangione to the BBC showed “generative AI services are still too immature to produce reliable information for the public.”
Apple is not alone in having rolled out generative AI tools that can create text, images and more content when prompted by users but with varying results.
Google’s AI overviews feature, which provides a written summary of information from results at the top of its search engine in response to user queries, faced criticism last year for producing some erratic responses.
At the time a Google spokesperson said that these were “isolated examples” and that the feature was generally working well.
