President Bola Tinubu..
On Thursday, June 26, 2025, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu signed the Nigeria Tax Act, 2025, and its three associated Bills, including the Nigeria Tax Administration Bill, the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Bill, and the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Bill, collectively known as the Tax Reform Bills, into law.
He has thereby ushered in a period of prosperity, equity, and social security that Nigeria has not seen since Majors Emmanuel Ifeajuna and Chukwuma Nzeogwu ended the First Republic via the January 15, 1966 coup.
In my opinion, the best thing President Tinubu has achieved, and which will secure his legacy as the greatest President ever in Nigeria, so far, is the Tax Reform Act. Devolving tax revenues to the states will return Nigeria to the pre-January 15, 1966 coup, when regions controlled their resources, leading to competition amongst the regions for revenue generation and development.
The Tax Reform Act will reduce this behaviour where Nigerian politicians do not complain when one state or region is contributing more than its fair share, but when revenue is to be spent, you see them using megaphones and vuvuzelas to accuse the President and the Federal Government of cheating because they are not getting the lion’s share.
For example, a state that does not contribute up to 1% of the total VAT revenue generated by Nigeria feels cheated if 15% of that same revenue, which it did not contribute, is not spent on it.
In what other country but Nigeria would this behaviour have been tolerated for so long?
That attitude prevents such a state from developing its own revenue base, as long as it knows it will get revenue generated elsewhere.
All that some people have to do is whip up ethnic sentiments, and they would have successfully pressed our people’s mumu button.
Or how else can you justify a region that gets a VAT revenue of ₦341.45 billion from the Federal Government but generates only ₦101.09 billion, yet it still claims they are marginalised.
What do they want? They want to consume EVERYTHING another state has contributed before they will be happy with Nigeria?
And that same region will not like it if they generate 15% revenue but get only 1% back. But what they would not want is what they expect others to accept.
When there are calls for equity, you hear other people say, ‘We will deal with you in the next election.’
Population should be used for production, not intimidation!
But how can Nigeria progress like that?
The Tax Reform Act puts an end to that. By January 1, 2026, all VAT revenue generated in Nigeria will be shared on a formula of 50% to be distributed equally, 20% based on population, and 30% based on consumption.
And it gets even better. Whereas the Federal Government used to get the lion’s share of VAT revenue, the Tax Reform Act devolves that power to the states and local governments, who now get more in a 15% to Federal Government, 50% to States and FCT, and 35% to Local Governments sharing formula.
That means in 2026, if you are not seeing development in your state, you should hold your Governor responsible. They are already getting more than double what they got under General Buhari from President Tinubu. However, with the Tax Reform Act, this will possibly quadruple.
This puts greater pressure on states to widen their revenue bases, because going forward, the more you generate, the more you get, unlike the existing system, which ends on December 31, 2025, where the more you generate, the more others get.
Who else could have achieved this for Nigeria than the duo of Tinubu and Akpabio?
The Tax Reform Act has changed Nigeria FOREVER, and you cannot put that genie back into the bottle, no matter the outcome of any future election.
May God bless President Tinubu for doing this for Nigeria.
Reno Omokri
Gospeller. Deep Thinker. #TableShaker. Ruffler of the Feathers of Obidents.
