Zacch Adedeji and the Quiet Architecture of Nigeria’s Tax Reforms
By Zekeri Idakwo Laruba
There was, for a long time, something fundamentally wrong with the way taxes were collected in Nigeria, both in structure and in spirit. The system was uneven, fragmented, and deeply inefficient, benefiting a narrow segment while imposing disproportionate burdens on compliant taxpayers. Major commercial centres accounted for the bulk of collections, not necessarily because they were more productive, but because the system itself was skewed by design. This imbalance persisted for years, tolerated as inevitable rather than challenged as unjust.
FIRS is now witnessing serious institutional modernisation. The new order introduced professionalism, structure, and credibility to an agency long associated with opacity and weak enforcement. This has stabilised FIRS and proved that reform is possible.
When President Bola Ahmed Tinubu approved the establishment of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms on July 7, 2023, it marked a decisive break from Nigeria’s long history of incremental and often inconclusive tax adjustments. Chaired by respected tax expert Taiwo Oyedele, the committee was designed not as another advisory panel, but as a reform engine—tasked with fixing structural defects that had undermined Nigeria’s fiscal stability for decades.
At the centre of this reform architecture stood Adedeji, then Special Adviser to the President on Revenue. His role was pivotal, not because of public visibility, but because of intellectual clarity and institutional positioning. Adedeji approached the reform conversation with uncommon honesty: Nigeria’s tax system was not merely underperforming; it was structurally broken.
Nigeria ranks poorly on the global ease of paying taxes index, while its tax-to-GDP ratio remains among the lowest globally, far below the African average. The consequence has been excessive reliance on borrowing, ballooning debt service obligations, and a shrinking fiscal space that leaves little room for meaningful socio-economic investment. In Adedeji’s assessment, while previous administrations recorded pockets of progress, none achieved the scale of transformation required to fundamentally change the national narrative.
His diagnosis was direct and unsparing. Nigeria’s tax system suffers from multiple taxation, fragmented collection agencies, weak coordination between fiscal and economic policies, low tax morale, high evasion, excessive compliance costs, and limited accountability in the use of public revenue. By naming these failures plainly, the reform debate shifted from cosmetic fixes to structural overhaul.
What has distinguished Adedeji’s role since then is continuity. Unlike previous reform cycles where policy designers exited before implementation began, he moved from advisory influence into direct institutional leadership. His appointment as Executive Chairman of FIRS in September 2023 effectively bridged the long-standing gap between policy formulation and execution. Where earlier reforms laid foundations and subsequent leadership preserved them, Adedeji stepped in to deepen and systematise them.
Rather than reinventing the wheel, he focused on strengthening it. His approach has emphasised collaboration over coercion, capacity over compulsion, and policy alignment over isolated interventions. Under his leadership, FIRS—now transitioning to the Nigeria Revenue Service—has been repositioned as a development partner, engaging taxpayers, subnational governments, and the private sector as stakeholders rather than adversaries.
A defining pillar of his reform push has been institutional capacity. Adedeji has repeatedly stressed that modern tax administration requires far more than enforcement. Digitalisation, data-driven compliance, cross-border taxation, and the tracking of illicit financial flows demand new skills, new systems, and a new mindset. Consequently, investments in training, technology, and internal processes have become central to implementation, aimed at improving efficiency, reducing compliance costs, and strengthening trust.
Consistency and fairness in applying tax laws have also emerged as reform priorities. Adedeji has argued that voluntary compliance will remain elusive unless taxpayers encounter predictable rules, professional administration, and credible reporting on how revenues are utilised. In this sense, improving tax morale is as critical as widening the tax net.
The broader objective of the reform agenda is ambitious but strategic: achieving a minimum tax-to-GDP ratio of 18 per cent within three years without stifling investment or economic growth. The emphasis is not on extracting more from an already burdened few, but on harmonising taxes, eliminating inefficiencies, and expanding the base in a way that supports competitiveness and sustainability.
These reforms are unfolding within a changing macroeconomic context. The Presidential Committee has pointed to improving trade balances, cleared forex backlogs, strengthened external reserves, and reduced dependence on monetary financing. Yet Adedeji has consistently cautioned that macroeconomic improvements must translate into reduced poverty and job creation if reforms are to retain public legitimacy.
Adedeji’s approach reflects the temperament of a technocrat rather than a political enforcer. Methodical, consultative, and institution-focused, he understands that sustainable reform in Nigeria is a process, not an event. Laws alone do not change systems; disciplined implementation does.
As Nigeria attempts to reset its fiscal foundations, the significance of Adedeji’s role lies not in rhetoric but in architecture. Adedeji embodies a rare alignment between vision and execution. In a reform space historically weakened by fragmentation, that alignment may prove to be the most consequential reform of all.