The Governor of Kaduna State, Senator Uba Sani has praised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for taking the courageous and politically demanding decision to fundamentally reform and reposition Nigeria’s tax ecosystem through landmark legislation, including the Act that transformed the former Joint Tax Board (JTB) into the Joint Revenue Board (JRB) and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS).
Governor Sani noted that a major consequential salutary outcome of the introduction of the tax reform early this year by the President is the surge of the national tax revenue to N21.6 trillion within 2026.
The governor spoke as the guest of honour at the 160th edition of the Joint Revenue Board (JRB) meeting, which held in Kaduna on Wednesday. The theme of meeting is, ‘’One Year Of Tax Reform: Assessing Progress and Addressing Challenges.’’
According to Governor Uba Sani, the nation’s revenue which was approximately ₦10.1 trillion in 2023 rose to N21.6 trillion in 2024 and about ₦36.8 trillion in 2025.
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He said that in the first half of 2026 alone, national tax revenue reached approximately ₦21.6 trillion, representing a 49 percent increase over the corresponding period of the previous year.
Uba Sani said the new tax regime reflected a profound understanding that a modern economy cannot be sustained by an outdated, fragmented or overly complex revenue system.
‘’Nigeria requires a tax architecture that is coherent, predictable, efficient and capable of supporting national development without unnecessarily constraining enterprise and investment,’’ he maintained.
The Kaduna governor commended the Chairman of the Joint Revenue Bostd (JRB) and the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), Dr Zacch Adedeji, for what he described as his exceptional leadership and statesmanship in advancing Nigeria’s tax reform agenda.
He said: “His contribution has been distinguished not merely by technical competence, but by a clear appreciation of the larger purpose of tax reform: to strengthen revenue mobilisation while making the system simpler, fairer, more predictable and more responsive to taxpayers.
“Reforms of this magnitude inevitably require courage. They demand the patience to build consensus, the discipline to stay the course and the institutional imagination to turn legislation into effective administrative practice. Mr Adedeji has demonstrated these qualities with distinction,’’ he added.
The Joint Revenue Board (JRB), apex body for revenue administration in Nigeria, has undertaken an assessment of the progress and challenges of the tax reform, one year into the commencement of its implementation.
The Board at its 160th meeting said it was imperative for revenue authorities to come together to reflect on their experiences under the new revenue regime and chart the way forward where concerns arise.
The meeting with the theme “One Year of Reform: Assessing Progress and Addressing Challenges”, held between the 1st and 2nd September 2026 in Kaduna State, was declared open by the host State Governor, Senator Uba Sani.
Governor Sani said the tax reform has expanded the opportunities for domestic resource mobilisation for the development of the country, stating that the deeper benefits of the reform would be to build institutions that will sustain the gains of the reform and command the confidence of taxpayers.
“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”, he cautioned.
The Governor urged the JRB to use the meeting to identify bottlenecks that impede revenue collection, institutional weaknesses that create friction between revenue authorities and opportunities through which technology can deliver more efficiency in revenue administration.
In his opening remarks, the Chairman, Joint Revenue Board, Dr Zacch Adedeji, who was represented by Muhammad L Abubakar, Executive Director Finance & Corporate Services, Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), said the theme of the 160th meeting is a call on the Board to take stock of the progress made in the implementation of the reform, remediate identified gaps and confront the challenges that may emerge.
He further stated that “while encouraging progress has been recorded in institutional reform, digitalisation, data integration, harmonisation and collaboration, the ultimate measure of success of the reform must be improved revenue mobilisation, greater compliance, a better taxpayer experience and stronger contribution to national development.”
18 States Harmonise Taxes and Levies Law- Adesokan
Giving an overview of the progress made one year into the implementation of the tax reform, the Executive Secretary of the JRB, Mr Olusegun Adesokan, hinted that 18 State Houses of Assembly have domesticated the model harmonised taxes and levies law, a legislation which has reduced the over 50 collection items hitherto administered by States and Local Government Areas to nine sub-heads, abolishes cash collection and mounting of roadblocks for collection of revenue. This has recorded a significant success in the harmonisation of taxes and levies by the subnational.
Addressing the misconception that the tax reform has increased taxes, Adesokan said the reform has rather reduced tax burden on low-income earners, eliminated multiple nuisance taxes while providing reliefs for low income-earners and micro-scale businesses.
The Executive Secretary appreciated the Kaduna State Governor for his continued support for the tax reform and for nominating a member of the Board and outgoing Executive Chairman of Kaduna State Internal Revenue Service, Mr Jerry Adams as his running mate for the 2027 gubernatorial election.
Kaduna Tax Compliance Rises From About 35 Percent To 65 Percent – Adams
Earlier in his welcome address, the outgoing Executive Chairman of Kaduna State Internal Revenue Service, Mr Jerry Adams, acknowledged the collaboration between revenue authorities and other stakeholder agencies within the tax ecosystem, saying that such relationship has proven useful in the implementation of the tax reforms.
Mr Adams said tax compliance in Kaduna State has risen from about 35 percent to 65 percent in the last three years under Governor Sani, a win he attributed to increased taxpayers’ confidence in the performance of the Governor whom he said has delivered many life-touching projects cutting across sectors including health, agriculture, education and infrastructure.
The Joint Revenue Board is composed of the 38 revenue authorities in the country, including the Nigeria Revenue Service, the 36 States and the FCT Internal Revenue Services. It also has the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Nigeria Immigration Service, the Nigeria Customs Service, Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Federal Road Safety Commission, National Identity Management Commission and the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria.
The 160th meeting was the second held by the Joint Revenue Board in 2026.
Governor Uba Sani also commended the immediate past Executive Chairman of Kaduna Internal Revenue Service(KADIRS), Mr Jerry Adams and his team, for increasing the state’s internally generated revenue from barely N4 billion, to N10 billion monthly.
He argued that the revenue figures are more than fiscal statistics but they point to ‘’an emerging capacity to finance national development increasingly from domestic resources.’’
According to him, the tax reforms aim at ‘’simplifying a complex tax environment, reducing multiple and overlapping taxation, deploying technology and e-invoicing to minimise leakages.
He further noted that the new tax reforms seek to consolidate revenue administration ‘’and, perhaps most importantly, rebuilding the relationship between government and the taxpayer.’’
The governor also argued that sustainable taxation cannot rest on coercion alone but must be founded on fairness, transparency, predictability and trust.
‘’Citizens and businesses are more likely to comply when they understand their obligations, encounter a system that is straightforward to navigate, and have confidence that the resources they contribute are being responsibly applied to the public good.
‘’The objective, therefore, should not simply be to collect more revenue. It should be to build a tax system in which compliance becomes easier, enforcement becomes more intelligent and voluntary participation becomes the norm rather than the exception,’’ he said.
According to him, Kaduna state has embraced this philosophy and through KADIRS, ‘’we have continued to invest in technology-driven revenue collection, professionalise our revenue workforce and strengthen taxpayer education and engagement.
‘’Our objective is not simply to increase collections, but to build a revenue system that is broader, fairer, more efficient and more sustainable, the Governor argued.
‘’We seek to expand the tax base rather than continually place a heavier burden on the same compliant taxpayers. We seek to make compliance easier and enforcement more intelligent, targeted and transparent.
‘’Above all, we seek to establish a relationship with taxpayers based not on fear, but on clarity, fairness and mutual responsibility. This is also why the institutional architecture created by the new reform matters so greatly,’’ he added.
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