In May 2005, Taiwo was called up to the Nigeria U20 squad for the FIFA World Youth Championship. He played his first match of the tournament against Brazil U20 and helped the U20 side keep a clean sheet, in a 0–0 draw on 12 June 2005. Taiwo then helped Nigeria U20 go through to the knockout stage after beating Switzerland U20 3–0 on Matchday Three. In a follow–up match, he scored his first goal of the tournament, in a 1–0 win against Ukraine U20 to progress to the next round. In the quarter–final match against Netherlands U20, Taiwo played the whole game which led to penalty shootout, and successfully converted the penalties, including the winning one to send the U20 side to the semi–finals. In the semi–finals against Morocco U20, he scored his second goal of the tournament, in a 3–0 win. In the final against Argentina U20, Taiwo started the whole game, as Nigeria U20 lost 2–1. Following the tournament, he was named the third best player in the tournament behind Mikel John Obi and Lionel Messi.