Nigeria, Dec. 26 -- Nigeria's tax debate is being conducted upside down. Government is pushing revenue extraction before fixing credibility, enforcement, and accountability. This inversion is not only economically unsound, it is politically reckless and morally indefensible. A state that cannot protect public funds has no business demanding more from citizens.

Taxation is not charity; it is a contract. Citizens surrender part of their income in exchange for security, infrastructure, justice, and social services. In Nigeria, that contract has been repeatedly breached. The result is predictable: widespread resistance, evasion, and cynicism toward any proposed tax reform.

Over the last decade, Nigerians have endured relentless fiscal tight...