N40.7trn Revenue Target: NRS tasks workforce on enhanced capacity, leadership excellence

*Dr. Zacch Adedeji, Executive Chairman of the Nigeria Revenue Service, rallies the organisation’s workforce at its first leadership retreat, to continue to develop capacity to adapt, stretch, and to lead at a level of excellence that Nigeria really requires of its citizens

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

The Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) has emphasised the need for personnel in the organisation to develop capacity to adapt, stretch, and to lead at a level of excellence that Nigeria really requires of its citizens.

ConsumerConnect reports Dr. Zacch Adedeji, Executive Chairman of NRS, Tuesday, February 10, 2026, in Abuja, FCT, at the first leadership retreat of the Service.

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Adedeji said the West African country’s recent far-reaching tax reforms represented a departure from the past: a new era, adding that new eras demand new postures.

On transition from FIRS to Nigeria Revenue Service

The Executive Chairman acknowledged the importance of the transition from the Federal Inland Revenue Service to the Nigeria Revenue Service.

He, however, urged members of the NRS family to be mindful of “internal blockers” who could take steps to undermine efforts by dedicated staff members to succeed.

Adedeji, in his remarks, said: “Every one of us in this room has a plan for NRS.

“We have strategies, reform agenda, roadmaps, and transformation framework.

“But history teaches us that even the most sophisticated plans can be undermined by internal blockers.”

The NRS Chief Executive stated: “They rarely acknowledge the unspoken assumptions that influence how we lead, how we delegate, how we respond under pressure, and how much space we create for others to think, acts, and innovate.

“In institutions like ours, these blockers do not acknowledge themselves boldly.

“They rarely appear as a resistance to change. Instead, they show up subtly, often disguised as good intentions.”

The first step of the leadership retreat was leadership, and self- examination, said he.

Adedeji averred: “If we cannot confront our internal barriers, we cannot credibly lead thousands of people who are now in our institution.

“I want to be very clear; this reflection is not something I am asking of you from a distance. It is something I have had to confront myself.”

He noted: “One of my long-standing assumptions has been the belief that if I can do something in a particular way, then others should be able to do it in the same way.

“On the surface, it appears harmless, even noble. In reality, it distorted how I set expectations, how I reviewed performance, and how I delegated authority.”

Leadership is elevation of others, says NRS Executive Chair

Underscoring that leadership is not the replication of oneself, but the elevation of others, Dr. Adedeji stated: “I share this, not as a personal story, but as a collective warning and invitation.

“If a leader’s unexamined belief can slow down a system, then together, our belief can either unlock or constrain the future of this organisation.”

Minister urges Nigerians to plug check revenue wastages

Speaking at the NRS leadership retreat also, Mr. Wale Edun, Honourable Minister for Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, urged Nigerians to rely more on what the country produce to check revenue wastages.

Edun said it is high time the citizens relied much more on what Nigeria has.

The Minister said: “It is time for us to buy from ourselves.

“We talk about buying from West Africa or trading with Africa as a whole, but intra-Nigerian trade is critical.

“We all know what spending in Nigeria does for the economy, we know what it does for the revenue targets of NRS.”

Edun also disclosed the debt service which developing countries paid 2024 was 163 billion Dollars.

Whereas the overseas development assistance that came in was 42 billion Dollars, stated he.

He explained: “The Foreign Direct Investment and the private sector funding that came in from abroad to developing countries were just 97 billion Dollars.

“So, you can see that as developing countries, the flow of funding, we are giving out is more than we are getting through these various categories.

“Clearly, it is what we do for ourselves internally that is going to be important at this time.”

The Minister said that it had become more evident that the Nigerian Government needs to deliver in the area of fiscal reform and revenue mobilisation in the economy.

Edun averred: “This is where you, as the NRS, play not just the pivotal but an indispensable role.”

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