EPISODE SUMMARY:
This episode discusses Nigeria’s recent tax and fiscal reforms, highlighting their objectives, challenges, and potential impacts, with an emphasis on improving compliance, simplifying laws, boosting economic growth, and ensuring inclusive benefits for businesses, citizens, and the economy at large.

Dr. Oluwanbepelumi Olanubi: Hello and welcome to the Kingsgate Brief. The podcast series is powered by Kingsgate Advisors Institute. This is the space where economists, policymakers, and thought leaders from Africa and across the globe come together to break down the big issues shaping our world. Each episode is designed to go beyond the surface, bringing you sharp insight, forward-looking analysis and practical ideas for navigating both global trends and local reality. I am Oluwanbepelumi Olanubi, the Executive Director of the Institute, and I’m your host for today’s conversation. I’m very thrilled to welcome you and to have you join us for what promises to be another engaging and thought-provoking dialogue. And while we are here, I still want to encourage you, if you haven’t yet, to subscribe to our YouTube page, follow our social media pages and engage with all our previous episodes and be the first to be informed when we drop our new episode by hitting the subscribe button and the notification bell. If you want to deep dive into what we do, you can visit our website, Kingsgateinstitute.org, to explore some of the work we are doing within the Institute.

Today’s conversation basically centres on the recent wave of tax reforms in Nigeria, which marked one of the most ambitious attempts in recent years to shift the country’s fiscal landscape. The reforms aimed at broadening the tax base, improving compliance, simplifying tax administration and enhancing revenue mobilisation to meet fiscal development needs, yet history has shown that policy announcements alone are not enough. Effective implementation, stakeholders’ buy-in and institutional capacity are essential to translating reform intentions into actual and tangible economic outcomes. Today’s conversation seeks to unpack what these reforms mean to stakeholders, which includes individuals, businesses and even government itself, and explore practical pathways to ensure that the policy vision becomes an economic reality. Why does this conversation matter, and why are we considering it today? Tax policy is a very powerful lever for economic transformation when effectively designed and implemented. It can fund infrastructure, support industrialisation and promote inclusive growth. However, Nigeria has faced persistent challenges in turning tax reform goals into measurable gains, often due to a combination of institutional problems, weak capacity for compliance culture, fragmented intergovernmental coordination and limited public trust in government standards. Understanding the implications of these reforms and learning from both domestic and international experiences will be critical for Nigeria’s future economic trajectory.

To take this conversation further today, it is my distinct pleasure to welcome Professor Olateju Abiola-Somorin, a distinguished scholar, accomplished professional and a pioneering leader in the fields of taxation and policy, fiscal policy. Professor Somorin is a member of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reform Committee. She is a professor of taxation at Caleb University, and she was the first female professor of taxation in Nigeria. Professor Somorin’s academic and professional journey reflects a consistent record of excellence and groundbreaking achievements. She holds the distinction of being the first Nigerian to have a master’s in taxation, the first to receive a doctor of letters degree in Nigeria’s tax system, and the first to be awarded a PhD in fiscal policy and taxation. Her accomplishments have set new benchmarks for exercise, expertise and leadership within Nigeria’s fiscal policy landscape. Over the course of her career, Professor Somorin has combined academic rigour with practical impact. She has served as an Associate Professor of Taxation and Fiscal Policy at Babcock University, where she played a pivotal role in establishing the institution’s taxation program. She is also a fellow of multiple professional bodies. Her influence extends beyond academia. Professor Somorin has advised the government, contributed to shaping tax legislation, and advocated for fiscal reforms aimed at achieving transparency, equity and economic development. Her leadership has advanced the role of taxation and not merely in terms of revenue generation mechanism, but as a strategic instrument for sustaining national goods. Today, we have the privilege of engaging with a thought leader whose work continues to build research, policy and practice. Professor Somorin, we are honoured to welcome you and thank you for joining us in this conversation this evening. Welcome.

Professor Olateju Somorin
Thank you very much

Dr Oluwanbepelumi Olanubi
Okay. So, by the end of this conversation, listeners should gain a clear understanding of the scope and implications of Nigeria’s reforms, an insight into the practical challenges of translating policy into results, and an appreciation of the role of businesses, government agencies, and even citizens in making reform work. Lastly, we are hoping that our listeners will have an evidence-based perspective on how Nigeria can position its tax system as a driver of structural transformation and inclusivity. I will encourage you all to sit back and let’s explore this conversation together.

So, Ma, I would like to start with this. From your perspective, and as a member of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Policy Committee, what are the core objectives of Nigeria’s recent tax reforms, and how do they fit into the country’s broader fiscal and economic strategy?

Professor Olateju Somorin
Just as you said, in your narrative, you mentioned a lot of the objectives, and you got it right. First of all, before I make my comment, let me appreciate you for inviting me to this program. I thank you very much for the invitation, and I also thank you for your interest in the Nigerian tax system, the need to develop it, and to make sure that it can stand with any other country globally. It’s a very good decision that you are trying to explain the reforms, what is behind the reforms, and what people expect to gain or the benefits people are likely to see from the program.

So, your first question is the objectives. A lot of people feel that the objectives of reforms are just to grow revenue. Yes, that is a main objective in many countries, to grow tax revenue. In fact, the previous reforms that Nigeria has had, and when I say previous reforms, I’m referring to the reforms of 1978. There was one initial reform in 1957-58, which was during the time of the Commission. After the one of 1957-58, there was another reform in 1978, then we had another reform in 1991. We had another reform in 2002-2003, and after that, we had all those reforms introduced by the Finance Act. We also have some reforms under the Finance Act 2019, 2020, and 2021. There was no tax act in 2022, although there was a reform, but the bill that came out during the 2022 reform was not signed by the President. So, let’s just keep the 2022 Finance Act, and then this, now the 2025, which started from 2023 and culminated in 2025, and the laws were signed by the President on the 26th of June 2025. Four tax bills were signed to become tax laws, acts. I refer to them as NTA 2025, but not just one law. There are four laws put together into one. These current reforms that we have are the reform that is two in one. It’s not just tax reforms. It combines tax reforms with fiscal reforms. The two are together, spending and income, not just the income side and the spending side of the reform.

One of the objectives is to increase the tax-to-GDP ratio because it has been said, and there’s data to prove it. If you remember, the Chairman of the Residential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, has said it so many times. He has a lot of data. There is data to prove that the tax-to-GDP ratio of Nigeria is one of the lowest in the world. And there is a need to grow that tax to GDP ratio because when you have a high tax to GDP ratio, it will naturally support the economic growth and development in the country. I didn’t start with tax revenue because that is not the focus, and that’s why I’m starting with economic growth, because when the economy grows, everybody will benefit when you have a very buoyant economy. So, one of the objectives is to grow the tax-to-GDP ratio from what it used to be, which was about 8.6% to about 18.6% by next year.