Zacch Adedeji

By Chibuike Nwabuko

ABUJA (PRECISE POST) – President Bola Tinubu has congratulated the Chairman of the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), Dr Zacch Adedeji, on the occasion of his birthday, praising his leadership and far-reaching reforms at the nation’s foremost revenue agency.

In a statement on Thursday, signed by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, and dated January 8, 2026 released on his X handle, the President commended Adedeji for injecting fresh ideas into the 83-year-old institution, adopting global best practices, automating key systems and strengthening staff capacity to boost national revenue and economic growth.

President Tinubu described the NRS Chairman as a visionary and charismatic leader whose stewardship has helped restructure, realign and effectively manage Nigeria’s revenue profile.

“I salute the NRS Chairman for his visionary and charismatic dedication in restructuring, aligning and managing the revenue profile of the country,” the President said.

He noted that under Adedeji’s leadership, the agency recorded a historic feat by meeting its budget targets in the third quarter of 2025, a development he said contributed significantly to stimulating the economy and driving national prosperity.

The President also highlighted Adedeji’s role in the adoption of the National Single Window, a transformative federal digital platform designed to streamline import and export processes, enhance transparency and drastically reduce cargo clearance time from 21 days to one week.

Dr Adedeji brings a wealth of experience from both the private and public sectors. He previously served as a senior member of Procter & Gamble’s management team, Commissioner of Finance in Oyo State, and Executive Secretary of the National Sugar Development Council, where he established the National Sugar Institute. He also served as Special Adviser to the President on Revenue before his appointment as Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service in September 2023.

President Tinubu prayed for God’s continued guidance for Adedeji, asking for more years of good health, wisdom and strength as he continues to serve the nation.

ABUJA- Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) says its replacement with the defunct Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) will overhaul the architecture of the country’s revenue administration.

The Executive Chairman of NRS, Dr Zacch Adedeji, said this in a television interview monitored from Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the provision of the recently enacted tax reform laws changes the nomenclature of the country’s apex tax authority from FIRS to NRS.

According to Adedeji, NRS is not branding. It is a total institutional upgrade moving from fragmented revenue administration to a modern, digitalised, centralised and intelligence-driven system.

He said that under the new framework, multiple tax and revenue-related functions previously spread across agencies have been consolidated, with a stronger emphasis on data integration, automation, and reduced human discretion.

He dismissed allegations that the country’s newly enacted tax reform laws were altered after passage by the National Assembly.

“Only the officially gazetted Acts carry legal authority and are binding on taxpayers and administrators,” he said.

The NRS boss said that an Act of the National Assembly only became effective after Presidential assent and official gazetting, with the gazetted version constituting the authoritative text in the event of disputes.

“Revenue agencies, courts, and taxpayers are therefore guided solely by the gazetted law, not draft bills, committee reports or chamber debates.

“Neither the executive nor the revenue authority has any incentive or legal capacity to alter the law after passage,” he said.

Adedeji said that the overhaul of the NRS is also designed to support the Federal Government’s broader fiscal objectives.

Accrding to him, Nigeria’s tax-to-GDP ratio has improved in recent years, rising to about 13.5 per cent as at October 2025.

“But it remains below the African average and well short of levels seen in peer emerging markets,” he said.

Adedeji said that the overall aim is on taxing profits and returns rather than capital or investment.

“We are not going to tax poverty; we want to tax prosperity,” he said.(NAN)

By Chris Udochukwu

ABUJA (Precise Post) – Strong indication emerged on Monday in the Senate that public hearing on the Tax Reform Bills will soon be held and presented for passage for third reading.

Indications to this effect were given by Senator Abba Moro who is the Chairman of the Ad – hoc committee set up by the Senate in December last year for required interface with the federal government on grey areas in some of the provisions of the proposed tax reform .

Abba Moro in an interview with journalists after over two hours closed door session his committee had with the Attorney – General of the Federation , Lateef Fagbemi ( SAN), Chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Mr Zacch Adedeji , Chairman of Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Mr Taiwo Oyedele and Chairman of Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission ( RMAFC) Dr Mohammed Bello Shehu , said some agreements have been reached .

” We just had a meeting and interface with the officials of government, the Attorney General of the Federation, the Chairman of RMAFC , FIRS Chairman, and in the process of evaluating the contending tendencies regarding the tax bills .

” We have agreed amongst ourselves that we must synthesize the whole processes to ensure that at the end of the day we give to Nigerians what Nigerians want and that is a law that serves the purpose of all Nigerians.

” So that is where we are now and hopefully by the time we meet again we will finalize and we will have some better story to tell you”.

Earlier the FIRS boss while fielding questions from journalists , said the perceived grey areas have been cleared and based on positive dispositions shown by members of the committee to the bills , they will surely pass them into law very soon .

He said: ” All those things you call gray area were discussed, identified and then as you said that the advisory so the judgment is not to be made, it’s just for us to continue the engagement, the consultation which based on your observation, has been positive.

“So we are in the right direction and everything is going as planned. There won’t be any other further meeting because all issues were identified, all the issues were clarified and then resolutions were made .

” To the best of my knowledge, everybody there agreed that Nigeria needs the laws as proposed .

“So what has happened today is that you see the framework of the law, you see the attorney general, you see the lawmakers and all of us the operators and everything went well “

The tax reform bills which are
(i) The Nigeria Tax Bill (NTB) 2024, (ii)
The Nigeria Tax Administration Bill (NTAB) 2024, ( iii)The Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Bill (NRSEB) 2024 and (iv) The Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Bill (JRBEB) 2024, were passed for second reading in the Senate on 28th of November, 2024 .