President Bola Tinubu is set to sign into law four landmark tax bills that promise to overhaul Nigeria’s tax administration system and stimulate both local and foreign investment.
The bills—Nigeria Tax Bill, Nigeria Tax Administration Bill, Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Bill, and Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Bill—recently passed by the National Assembly, are the product of extensive consultations with key stakeholders and interest groups nationwide.
The signing ceremony, to be held tomorrow at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, will be attended by top-ranking government officials, including the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, leaders of both legislative chambers, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, and the Attorney General of the Federation. Also in attendance will be the Chairman of the Governors Forum and the head of the Progressives Governors Forum.
The reforms are aimed at consolidating Nigeria’s complex and fragmented tax regime, improving the ease of doing business, streamlining taxpayer obligations, and reducing duplicative levies that often discourage entrepreneurship and investment.
The Nigeria Tax Bill, also dubbed the “Ease of Doing Business Bill,” seeks to unify the country’s numerous tax statutes into a single, coherent document—eliminating overlapping taxes and simplifying compliance for businesses.
The Nigeria Tax Administration Bill introduces a harmonised legal and operational framework for tax administration across the three tiers of government—federal, state, and local—promoting greater efficiency and uniformity.
Perhaps the most transformative of the four, the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Bill repeals the Federal Inland Revenue Service Act, establishing a new, more autonomous Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) with a broader mandate that includes non-tax revenue collection, backed by new standards of accountability and performance.
The Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Bill provides for structured coordination among tax authorities nationwide and creates essential mechanisms such as a Tax Appeal Tribunal and an independent Office of the Tax Ombudsman to address taxpayer grievances.
When fully operational, the laws are expected to modernize Nigeria’s tax architecture, reduce bureaucratic red tape, expand the tax base, and unlock revenue potential critical to funding national development.
Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, confirmed the development in a statement issued today, describing the laws as “groundbreaking” and essential to the administration’s economic agenda.
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