…President Tinubu gives agency’s chair thumbs up
…As NRS moves from traditional tax authority to digitised, data-driven institution
When President Bola Ahmed Tinubu appointed Zacch Adedeji as chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) in September 2023, the assignment before him was daunting.
Nigeria’s tax system was widely seen as inefficient, burdened by leakages, weak compliance, bureaucratic bottlenecks, and an overdependence on oil revenues. Government revenues consistently struggled to match the growing demands of a country seeking economic stability, infrastructure expansion, and fiscal sustainability.
Less than three years later, the story has changed dramatically.
Today, the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), formerly known as the FIRS, is at the centre of one of the most ambitious fiscal reform efforts in Nigeria’s recent history. At the heart of that transformation is Adedeji, the accountant, technocrat and reform-driven administrator whose leadership has reshaped the country’s revenue collection architecture.
The numbers tell part of the story. In 2024, the FIRS recorded a historic N21.66 trillion in revenue collection, representing 111.6 percent of its target for the year. Non-oil taxes exceeded projections by 28 percent and accounted for 73.4 percent of total collections, a major shift for a country long dependent on crude oil earnings.
The momentum continued in 2025, and the agency surpassed its annual target by generating N28.3 trillion against a projected N25.2 trillion.
For many observers, the figures reflected more than aggressive tax collection. They signalled a restructuring of the country’s fiscal culture.
The reforms were driven by a clear objective:
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