The Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) has announced an ambitious plan to collect N40.7 trillion in taxes and royalties in 2026, marking a sharp rise from the N28.23 trillion recorded in 2025. Executive Chairman Zach Adedeji revealed the projection during a roundtable in Abuja, organized by the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations, highlighting the government’s renewed focus on revenue generation through recent tax reforms.
Adedeji attributed the higher target to reforms that now channel petroleum revenues, mineral royalties, and other federal taxes directly to the NRS. “With the support of the House, we are confident we can achieve this goal,” he said, recalling that the agency surpassed its 2025 target of N25.2 trillion by generating N28.23 trillion—a 30.3 percent increase over 2024, mainly driven by non-oil taxes.
The reforms trace back to 2024, when bills were introduced at the National Assembly to centralize federal tax collection. Around 60 agencies, including the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission and the Nigeria Customs Service, were redirected to focus on their core mandates, while all federal taxes were consolidated under the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). In 2025, President Bola Tinubu signed the Nigeria Revenue Service Establishment Act, rebranding FIRS as the NRS and formalizing its expanded role.
Finance Minister Wale Edun emphasized that Nigeria’s previous reliance on Ways and Means financing and subsidy regimes was unsustainable. He highlighted that the reforms aim to correct fiscal distortions and transition the country to market-based solutions, a shift that the NRS’s new revenue projections reflect. Lawmakers also used the Abuja roundtable to review 2025 performance and scrutinize the NRS’s 2026 targets, ensuring transparency for the public.
The NRS’s expanded mandate and the sweeping tax reform programme, effective January 1, 2026, signal a major shift in Nigeria’s approach to revenue collection. As the agency positions itself to meet the N40.7 trillion target, experts say this could have far-reaching implications for economic growth, government financing, and the business environment across the country.
source: nairametrics