Taxation: Adedeji highlights critical role of tech in successful new tax regime in Nigeria

*Dr. Zacch Adedeji, Executive Chairman of the Nigeria Revenue Service, highlights the rile of modern technology in ensuring the success of Nigeria’s new tax laws

Alexander Davis | ConsumerConnect

Dr. Zacch Adedeji, Executive Chairman of the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), has re-affirmed that technology will play a major role in making Nigeria’s new tax laws work effectively.

Adedeji stated this Wednesday, February 11, 2026, while delivering the maiden Convocation Lecture of the Federal Polytechnic, Ayede, in Ogo-Oluwa Local Government Area of Oyo State.

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The title of his Convocation Lecture is: “The Role of Technology in Implementing Nigeria’s New Tax Laws: Challenges, Prospects, and Implications for National Development”.

Sikiru Akinola, Technical Assistant to the NRS Executive Chairman on Print Media, in a statement, also noted Dr. Adedeji explained the Nigerian new-fangled tax laws represent the biggest change to the West African country’s tax system in the last 50 years.

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The Executive Chairman of NRS stated: “Nigeria has recently enacted a new set of tax laws, representing the most significant restructuring of our nation’s fiscal legislation in 50 years.

“While public conversation often frames these changes as legal reforms, and that is true, it is also an incomplete picture.”

Adedeji also said the new tax laws are far beyond mere changing tax rates, or adjusting definitions in the tax ecosystem.

He declared that they are designed to change how the entire tax system operates.

The Executive Chairman further said: “These laws are not merely changing rates, definitions, or administrative powers.

“They are quietly redefining how authority operates within the tax system. This is a complete structural overhaul, signalling the end of tax collection as a manual task and the beginning of tax intelligence.”

Adedeji noted that the new laws assume the existence of a modern digital system. He said they are built on reliable taxpayer identification, data sharing among institutions, traceable transactions, automated processes and stronger enforcement.

He averred: “In other words, these laws are built for a digital environment. They cannot function properly in a manual, fragmented, paper-based system.

“The implication is clear: without technology, the laws remain aspirational. With technology, they become operational.”

He said the transition to a digital tax system is central to the mandate of the NRS. According to him, tax administration in the past relied heavily on human discretion in deciding who is registered, assessed, audited or penalised.

“While discretion is not inherently evil, excessive discretion creates inconsistency, which in turn breeds mistrust and drives non-compliance,” Adedeji said.

He identified infrastructure gaps, shortage of skills, lack of trust and resistance to change as some of the major challenges facing tax administration in Nigeria.

However, he expressed confidence that upgrading the tax system for a digital environment would help address these problems.

Speaking on the benefits of a technology-driven system, Adedeji said one of the biggest advantages is the ability to increase government revenue without raising tax rates.

“One of the most important prospects of a technology-driven tax administration is the ability to expand the tax base without increasing tax rates.

“This matters deeply in a society where citizens already feel overburdened,” he said.

He explained that technology would help government see more economic activities that were previously outside the tax net.

Adedeji asserted: “By improving visibility and bringing previously unseen economic activity into view, technology levels the playing field.

“When compliance broadens, the pressure on the existing base reduces, fairness improves, and legitimacy grows. This is how modern tax systems grow revenue sustainably.”

In his remarks at the event, Rt. Hon. (Dr.) Tajudeen Abass, Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives in the National Assembly (NASS), Abuja, FCT, urged the graduating students to be good ambassadors of the institution, and continue to seek more knowledge.

Rt. Hon. Abbas, represented by Senator AbdulFatai Buhari, who represents Oyo North, in Oyo State, commended Adedeji for leading reforms in tax administration in the country.

Yakubu Datti, Chairman of the institution’s Governing Council, also lauded the NRS Executive Chairman for driving changes in Nigeria’s tax administration ecosystem.

Earlier, in his welcome address at the Convocation Lecture, Dr. Taofeek Adekunle Abdul-Hameed, Rector of the Federal Polytechnic, Ayede, had encouraged the graduating students to take inspiration from NRS Adedeji.

Dr. Abdul-Hameed told the audience that he began his academic journey in a polytechnic before rising to national prominence.

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