Abuja, April 14, 2024 (NAN) President Bola Tinubu says Nigeria needs a strong and transparent revenue structure to achieve sustainable prosperity.
Tinubu said this on Tuesday at the official inauguration of the new headquarters of the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) in Abuja.
According to him, Nigeria can not achieve sustainable prosperity with a weak or opaque revenue structure.
He said that trust between government and citizens depended on fairness and accountability in taxation.
“No serious nation can achieve lasting prosperity on a weak and fragmented revenue system.
“No government can demand trust from its citizens when taxation is opaque, inefficient, or unjust,” the president said.
According to him, Nigeria’s ongoing tax and fiscal reforms are a binding commitment to citizens rather than political rhetoric.
He described the tax reforms as a covenant with the Nigerian people aimed at strengthening institutions, restoring fairness, and driving economic transformation.
He said that the reforms were designed to simplify the country’s tax system, eliminate distortions, and build a transparent and investment-friendly fiscal environment.
The Executive Chairman of the NRS, Dr Zacch Adedeji, said that the inauguration marked the culmination of a defining institutional journey, one that has spanned years of vision, persistence, complexity.
Adedeji said that the moment was inseparable from Tinubu’s leadership and the reform agenda he had courageously advanced
“What stands before us is not merely an edifice of steel and structure, but the physical manifestation of a nation choosing order over drift, discipline over fragmentation, and execution over intent.
“It is the coming to life of a renewed fiscal vision, one that is structured, credible, and built to endure,” he said.
Adedeji said that when the administration of President BolaTinubu assumed office, Nigeria faced a critical inflexion point, marked by constrained fiscal space, weakened investor confidence, and structural distortions across key sectors.
According to him, what followed was not an incremental adjustment, but a comprehensive reset of the nation’s economic and fiscal architecture.
“Through decisive actions, you restored macroeconomic credibility, unifying foreign exchange markets, clearing longstanding backlogs, and re-establishing confidence in Nigeria’s ability to operate a transparent and market-driven system.
“These were not easy decisions, but they were necessary decisions, and history will recognise them as such.”
He said building on the foundation, the present administration undertook one of the most significant revenue reforms in Nigeria’s history.
“Over 60 fragmented tax laws were streamlined into a simplified and more coherent framework, strengthening compliance, improving predictability, and enabling efficiency in administration,” he said.
He said that the reform was not driven by higher tax burdens, but by better systems, broader coverage, and stronger governance.
“The outcome speaks for itself, with Nigeria recording a historic domestic revenue performance, demonstrating that disciplined reform yields sustainable results.
“Beyond taxation, fiscal governance has been strengthened through improved remittance systems, enhanced transparency mechanisms, and tighter controls on public financial flows.
“Trade has been modernised through the recently launched National Single Window, reducing inefficiencies and strengthening revenue assurance.
“In energy reforms, the revolutionary sales of crude in Naira initiative has repositioned the sector from a fiscal burden to a stabilising anchor for the economy, especially at this crucial time.
“Across these areas, what we are witnessing is not an isolated change, but a coordinated transformation of the fiscal state,” he said.
He commended the president for his ability to take difficult decisions, align institutions, and translate reform into measurable outcomes that reposition a nation for the future.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, described the new NRS headquarters as a major achievement in Nigeria’s fiscal and institutional journey.
Edun was represented by Mr Taiwo Oyedele, the newly appointed Minister of State for Finance.
According to him, the completed facility is an investment; the physical expression of the fundamental shifts in how Nigeria is modernising revenue administration.
“Like our tax system, the foundation of this edifice was laid many years ago. But today, thanks to the exceptional leadership of the NRS, led by Dr Zacch Adedeji and his team, we have a unified, modern institutional structure.
“This mirrors the transformational progress we have seen in our tax system under the visionary leadership of President Bola Tinubu.
“Before the reforms of this administration, Nigeria’s fiscal system faced structural challenges ranging from fragmented tax law, weak tax-to-GDP ratio, and unsustainable debt service volume,” he said.
Edun said that through decisive leadership, the reforms had strengthened revenue institutions, improved collection , and laid the foundation for long-term fiscal sustainability.
The President of the President, Sen. Godswill Akpabio, commended Tinubu for the ongoing economic reforms, fiscal restructuring, and infrastructure renewal.
Akpabio described them as evidence of vision-driven leadership and a turning point in Nigeria’s development trajectory.
He said the reforms in the tax and fiscal space reflected a deliberate effort to reposition Nigeria’s economy for stability, efficiency, and long-term sustainability.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep.Tajudeen Abbas, said that Nigeria’s widening revenue gap could undermine the country’s ambitious fiscal plans, including the implementation of a 2026 budget.
According to Abbas, while government spending obligations continue to rise, revenue generation remains insufficient to match national aspirations.
He said Nigeria’s budget had expanded significantly in recent years, driven by commitments to infrastructure development, security, education, and social services, stressing that sustainable revenue growth was critical to fiscal stability.
“The gap between what the country seeks to achieve and what it currently earns remains substantial, and bridging it requires deliberate and coordinated reforms rather than short-term measures,” he said.
The speaker said that the objective of the ongoing tax reforms was not to impose additional hardship on citizens, but to improve efficiency, broaden the tax base, and reduce leakages in the system.
He said that the reforms sought to create a more coherent and integrated revenue framework capable of supporting national development goals.
Abbas also underscored the importance of accountability and institutional discipline in revenue administration, warning that weak systems and inefficiencies could jeopardise economic planning.
He called for strengthened coordination among revenue agencies and sustained legislative oversight to ensure that reforms are effectively implemented and deliver intended outcomes.
The speaker reiterated the commitment of the House of Representatives to continue monitoring the implementation of fiscal reforms, stressing that effective oversight remains key to achieving long-term economic stability.
He urged stakeholders to support ongoing reforms, noting that Nigeria’s fiscal sustainability depends on improving revenue performance while maintaining fairness and public trust in the system.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
Edited by Deji Abdulwahab
