President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday urged the Nigeria Revenue Service to go beyond its core mandate of collecting taxes and become an institution that Nigerians can genuinely trust, warning that no government can demand public confidence when its revenue system is opaque, inefficient or unjust.
Tinubu gave the charge at the official commissioning of the NRS headquarters, a 16-floor, three-tower facility built by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation in Abuja, with a designed capacity for over 3,000 personnel.
“You must embody trust and ensure fairness and demonstrate that government can be accountable, responsive and earn confidence at home and respect abroad,” Tinubu said in his keynote address.
He continued, “The NRS must not only collect revenue; it must build trust and it must ensure fairness.
“It must demonstrate that government can be accountable, efficient and responsive.
“It must become a model institution that earns confidence at home and respect abroad.”
Tinubu said the commissioning was not merely about inaugurating a building but about marking a milestone in a larger national journey, the deliberate strengthening of Nigeria’s fiscal foundation and the rebuilding of confidence in public institutions.
He said, “We are not gathered here merely to commission a building. We are here to mark a milestone in a larger national journey, the deliberate strengthening of our fiscal foundation and the rebuilding of confidence in public institutions.
“No serious nation can achieve lasting prosperity on a weak and fragmented revenue system.”
Recalling the pledge he made on his inauguration day in May 2023, the President said his administration had remained true to a covenant with Nigerians.
He said, “On my inauguration day, I made a solemn pledge that we would move Nigeria from the dimness of uncertainty into the clear light of renewed hope.
“I committed that we would confront structural weaknesses, restore fairness and build an economy anchored on discipline, equity and opportunity.
“Today, I stand before you to reaffirm that those words were not rhetoric. They were a covenant with the Nigerian people.”
Tinubu cited what he described as early but encouraging results of the administration’s fiscal reforms, including improved fiscal stability, stronger foreign reserves, a more efficient trade ecosystem and increased investor confidence, and attributed them to deliberate policy choices rather than circumstance.
“These gains are not incidental. They are the products of deliberate policy, sustained effort and a commitment to doing what is right for the long-term prosperity of our nation,” he said.
The President called on the NRS to embody a new institutional ethos, adding that the completion of the new headquarters at this moment was itself a message.
He noted, “The completion of this building is not by chance. It is a statement that Nigeria is no longer content with promises; we are delivering progress.
“History will not judge us by what we say, but by what we do, by the institutions we strengthen and the discipline we sustain.
“We have chosen discipline, we have chosen progress, we have chosen development, prosperity and inclusiveness, and we will stay this course, steadfast and focused, until the promise of Nigeria is matched by the performance of its institutions and the prosperity of its people.”
The NRS was formally constituted under the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, one of four landmark statutes that formed the 2025 Tax Reform Acts signed by Tinubu on 26 June 2025. The Acts replaced the Federal Inland Revenue Service and consolidated more than 60 fragmented tax statutes into a single, unified legislative framework, the most sweeping overhaul of Nigeria’s revenue law in decades.
In his welcome address, the Executive Chairman of the NRS, Dr Zacch Adedeji, whom Tinubu referred to as “Zacch Agbowopa”, drawing a biblical reference to the tax collector Zacchaeus, described the new headquarters as a physical manifestation of the country’s reformed fiscal ambition.
“What stands before us is not merely an edifice of steel and structure, but the physical manifestation of a nation choosing order over drift, discipline over fragmentation, and execution over intent,” Adedeji said.
He disclosed that the NRS recorded historic revenue performance in 2025, a figure that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, said was over N28tn, surpassing the collection target for that year.
The Speaker, who delivered a goodwill message at the event, used the occasion to outline what he described as three non-negotiable institutional requirements for the NRS going forward: consistency, visibility and restraint.
He said, “Revenue administration loses credibility when outcomes depend on discretion rather than rules.
“A modern tax system cannot operate as a closed structure. Data, processes and decisions must be intelligible not only to government but also to those who are subject to them.
“And the authority to collect revenue must be exercised with discipline; overreach may produce immediate gains, but it weakens trust and compliance over time.”
Tajudeen also acknowledged the tension that had accompanied the legislative passage of the Tax Reform Acts, noting that the National Assembly had engaged extensively, interrogated the proposals rigorously and made deliberate choices to protect vulnerable groups.
“The intention of this new regime is not to increase hardship but to improve structure.
“It seeks to broaden the base, reduce leakages and ensure that obligations are more evenly distributed,” he said.
The Minister of State for Finance, Taiwo Oyedele, who represented the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, said the transformation of the FIRS into the NRS was not merely a change of name but a repositioning for broader governance and performance.
Oyedele said, “The transformation of the Federal Inland Revenue Service into the Nigeria Revenue Service is not just a name change.
“It reflects a broader mandate, stronger governance, accountability and repositioning for greater performance.”
He called on the NRS to deepen efficiency, strengthen compliance through trust and transparency, leverage technology for service delivery and sustain revenue growth, adding that the ministry of finance remained committed to providing the policy environment for the service to fulfil its mandate.
The Managing Director of CCECC Nigeria, Guan Shuai, said the completion of the headquarters symbolised the administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda and praised Adedeji’s hands-on supervision of the project for ensuring its timely delivery.
The facility, designed by Baron Architecture with structural consultancy from AT Onajide and project management support from Stretford Hill, is built to serve as the institutional home of the NRS.
