The Joint Revenue Board says the ongoing tax reform has eased the financial burden on low-income Nigerians and scrapped a wide range of nuisance taxes that previously weighed on citizens and small businesses.
This disclosure was made by the Executive Secretary of the JRB, Olusegun Adesokan, as he presented an assessment of the reform’s achievements after one full year of implementation.
According to a statement obtained from the board’s official X handle on Friday, Adesokan made these remarks while addressing the 160th meeting of the JRB, held in Kaduna State under the theme, “One Year of Reform: Assessing Progress and Addressing Challenges.”
He explained that the reform had brought relief to low-income earners and micro-scale businesses, dismissing claims that it had worsened the tax burden on Nigerians.
“Addressing the misconception that the tax reform has increased taxes, the reform has rather reduced the tax burden on low-income earners, eliminated multiple nuisance taxes while providing reliefs for low-income earners and micro-scale businesses,” he said.
Adesokan disclosed that 18 state Houses of Assembly have already domesticated the model harmonised taxes and levies law, a legislative framework designed to tackle the problem of overlapping and multiple taxation across the federation.
He noted that the law had consolidated more than 50 separate collection items, which were formerly administered by states and local government areas, into just nine sub-heads.
He further stated that the legislation had abolished cash-based tax collection as well as the practice of mounting roadblocks for the purpose of revenue collection.
The Executive Secretary said these measures had led to significant progress in harmonising taxes and levies among subnational governments across the country.
The JRB, which serves as Nigeria’s apex body for revenue administration, convened the meeting to evaluate progress recorded under the new revenue framework, pinpoint existing gaps, and tackle emerging challenges.
The meeting was formally declared open by the Kaduna State Governor, Senator Uba Sani, who noted that the reform had widened opportunities for domestic resource mobilisation and boosted the country’s capacity to fund development projects.
Sani charged the JRB to identify bottlenecks hampering revenue collection, institutional weaknesses causing friction between revenue authorities and taxpayers, and areas where technology could improve efficiency in revenue administration.
He said, “The objective of the reform should not be simply to collect revenue; it should be to build a tax system in which compliance becomes easier, enforcement becomes more intelligent and voluntary compliance becomes a norm.”
The Executive Secretary commended Governor Uba Sani for hosting the 160th JRB meeting and for his sustained support of the tax reform initiative.
He particularly praised the governor for nominating a member of the Board and outgoing Executive Chairman of the Kaduna State Internal Revenue Service, Mr Jerry Adams, as his running mate for the 2027 gubernatorial election.
Sani expressed satisfaction with the tax reform, stressing that beyond eliminating duplicate taxation, it had also boosted overall revenue generation.
He noted that Nigeria’s national tax revenue has climbed to N21.6 trillion since President Bola Tinubu introduced the tax reform in 2026.
According to him, the nation’s revenue stood at approximately N10.1 trillion in 2023, rose to N21.6 trillion in 2024, and reached about N36.8 trillion in 2025.
In his opening remarks, the JRB Chairman, Dr Zacch Adedeji, represented by the Executive Director, Finance and Corporate Services at the Nigeria Revenue Service, Muhammad Abubakar, said the meeting served as a call for revenue authorities to take stock of progress made, address identified gaps, and confront emerging challenges.
He said the ultimate measure of the reform’s success must be improved revenue mobilisation, greater compliance, a better taxpayer experience, and stronger contributions to national development.
