NEITI, Stakeholders Amplify Support For Tax Reforms Bills
By Stephanie Odiase
The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), and other stakeholders including civil society organisations and extractives industry experts, have restated support for the federal government’s Tax Reform Bills currently before the National Assembly.
The Tax Reform Bill aim to enhance Nigeria’s tax framework, strengthen revenue mobilization, and ensure fiscal sustainability in line with global best practices.
Speaking on Monday, at the inaugural Rembinar Series on Tax Bills and Implications for NEITI Audits, hosted by OrderPaper in collaboration with NEITI, Executive Secretary of NEITI, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, highlighted the critical need for fiscal transparency, resource governance, and accountability in Nigeria’s extractive industries.
Dr. Orji noted that tax evasion, revenue leakages, and weak enforcement mechanisms continue to hinder the sector’s full revenue-generating potential.
“The extractive sector remains the backbone of Nigeria’s economy, contributing significantly to government revenue and foreign exchange earnings. However, persistent challenges—such as tax evasion, revenue leakages, weak enforcement, and a lack of transparency in fiscal regimes—have limited its potential to drive sustainable development,” Dr. Orji stated.
He underscored key provisions of the 2024 Tax Reform Bill to include consolidation of tax laws to ensure clarity and compliance, taxation of digital assets and non-resident entities to broaden the tax base, stronger anti-tax avoidance measures to curb revenue leakages and improvements in VAT regulations and business tax incentives to encourage investment.
Dr. Orji also stressed the importance of assessing the bill’s impact on NEITI audits, revenue transparency, and sector compliance, while reiterating NEITI’s commitment to providing technical support, data-driven insights, and policy recommendations to enhance fiscal accountability.
On collaboration for Fiscal Sustainability, Founder of OrderPaper, Oke Epia, explained that the Rembinar series would broaden the scope of resource governance by integrating emerging issues such as energy transition, climate change, tax reform, beneficial ownership transparency, and contract transparency.
Epia explained that the Rembinar initiative is an extension of Remtrack, a tool designed to monitor NEITI audit findings and recommendations, now expanded to cover broader governance challenges.
Also speaking at the event, a Tax Expert, Mr. Haruna Yahaya, and Member of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy & Tax Reforms, provided in-depth analysis of the tax bills, emphasizing their potential to simplify tax processes and enhance taxpayer transparency.
He explained that the reform would reduce revenue leakages through improved enforcement mechanisms and centralize tax collection under the newly proposed Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS).
According to him, changes to royalty payments for Deepwater operations, Hydrocarbon taxation regulations, updates to Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) and adjustments to Deepwater and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) are specific provisions affecting NEITI’s work, particularly in the oil and gas sector.
“These changes directly impact NEITI, as the agency plays a crucial role in validating payments and receipts between companies and the government,” Mr. Yahaya said.
For the mining sector, he noted that new materiality thresholds in the tax bills would determine which production levels are taxed and which remain exempt—ensuring fairer taxation across the industry.
Speaking on the implications of the Tax Reforms on Transparency in Revenue Collection, Dr. Mike Uzoigwe, a Policy Expert on Natural Resource Governance, explained that the proposed Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) would act as a one-stop-shop for tax collection, streamlining the process and enhancing transparency in revenue generation.
“With more revenue generated comes the greater need for transparency,” Dr. Uzoigwe stated, emphasizing that NEITI’s audits must capture timely and accurate data to ensure effective oversight of government revenues.
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