Confronting scarcity: Adedeji’s mission to block revenue leakages
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s pledge last week to end revenue leakages in the Federal Government may have been received with scepticism by many Nigerians but it must be sweet music
- By Kehinde Olaosebikan
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s pledge last week to end revenue leakages in the Federal Government may have been received with scepticism by many Nigerians but it must be sweet music in the ears of both policy experts and Nigeria’s development partners. Since his assumption of office in 2023, local observers and international financial institutions alike have struggled to square the circle of Nigeria’s budgetary underperformance, service delivery shortfalls and infrastructural deficit that seem to overlap with loudly advertised over-achievement of projected federal revenue targets.
Speaking at the opening of the new tri-tower headquarters of the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) in Abuja, President Tinubu seemed to acknowledge this curious disjuncture. He declared that his administration’s economic reforms are designed to confront structural weaknesses, restore fairness, and rebuild confidence in public institutions. President Tinubu said that his administration’s reforms are a “covenant” with Nigerians, aimed at simplifying the tax system, eliminating distortions, and creating a transparent, investment-friendly environment.
According to the President, “No serious nation can achieve lasting prosperity on a weak and fragmented economic system. No government can demand trust from its citizens when taxation is opaque, inefficient, or unjust”.
He further noted that early results of his reforms include improved fiscal stabil foreign reserves, a more efficient trade ecosystem, and rising investor confidence. “These gains are not incidental”, he affirmed. Rather, they are, in the President’s words, “the result of deliberate policy, sustained effort, and the collective resolve to do what is right”.
President Tinubu then declared that the restructured NRS now has an expanded mandate beyond tax administration, including coordination of non-tax revenues across federal agencies. Its framework prioritises digital-first enforcement, data-driven compliance, and accountability, marking a break from past inefficiencies.
“These are not incremental adjustments”, the President disclosed, “but a deliberate rupture with a past defined by leakage, fragmentation, and underperformance.” He, therefore, urged the NRS to build trust and fairness alongside revenue collection, stressing that the commissioning of the new NRS headquarters signals a shift from promises to tangible delivery, expressing confidence that stronger institutions will define Nigeria’s future prosperity.
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Fulfilling the President’s pledge and bringing his lofty projections to fruition fall squarely in the court of the NRS whose Chairman, Dr. Zacch Adedeji has since his appointment emerged as one of the highest achievers of the present administration. The President’s charge now gives Dr. Adedeji a golden opportunity to further prove his mettle as a valiant tamer of the behemoths of Nigeria’s revenue ecosystem.
In this regard, Adedeji’s past records speak most eloquently for him. After a stellar career in the accounting and corporate finance sectors, and his celebrated stint as Commissioner for Finance in Oyo State, Adedeji arrived at the then Federal Internal Revenue Service (now renamed Nigeria Revenue Service) and immediately set to work with a bang. His far-reaching reforms of the nation’s revenue architecture have delivered long-lasting results and impact exemplified in exponential increases in revenue collections. This is an achievement that he has now topped with the completion of the new NRS headquarters, which comprises of 16 floors across three towers with capacity for over 3,000 staff, and has been described as the operational backbone of a reformed revenue system. Zacch Adedeji spent barely three years to deliver what successive past chairmen of the service could not accomplish in 22 years.
However, addressing the phenomenon of persistent revenue leakages presents a new set of challenges. In recent times, top functionaries of the administration, including ministers and agency heads, have lamented the measly cash releases to their departments, thereby further fuelling public concern as to where all the revenue increases went. Answering this loaded question is at the crux of the new mandate that Mr. President has given to the NRS Chairman. The hope of Nigerians and the country’s development partners is that the corporate finance and tax management wizard is prepared to meet this challenge head on. And if morning shows the day, Dr. Adedeji’s records show that this is not a misplaced hope.
With a professional pedigree not born in government, Adedeji rose to corporate finance manager for West Africa at Procter and Gamble running the numbers for a multinational where every kobo counts. Before his engagement in government, Zacch Adedeji had already made a career of finding money and blocking leaks.
At age 33, he pioneered the Treasury Single Account TSA as the commissioner of Finance in the Pacesetter State of Oyo, saving upwards of 7.2 b yearly for the state government. It was Adedeji’s TSA, a public financial management system that the Federal Government eventually adopted and still operates till today.
With the new challenge by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to the exceptionally brilliant, purposeful and hardworking genius (First Class OAU, PhD, and Havard product), a new cash management framework more effective, and completely leak-proof should be in the offing for the country.
•Olaosebikan, journalist and public affairs consultant, is the CEO of Midas Communications Ltd, a global public relations firm
