Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, has thrown his weight behind the newly created Tax Ombud Office, pledging alignment with federal tax reforms amid growing scrutiny over their potential impact on businesses and taxpayers.

The governor’s endorsement came yesterday during a meeting with the pioneer Tax Ombud/Chief Executive Officer, John Nwabueze, at the Government House, Asaba, where he described the office as critical to promoting transparency, resolving tax disputes, and protecting citizens from arbitrary fiscal practices.

The Tax Ombud Office was established under sweeping reforms introduced by President Bola Tinubu in 2025, aimed at overhauling Nigeria’s tax administration system and restoring public confidence in government revenue processes.

While the initiative has been widely praised in policy circles, concerns persist over implementation gaps and the readiness of states to align with the new framework.

However, Oborevwori said Delta was already moving to key into the federal reforms, revealing plans to repeal the Delta State Internal Revenue Service Law of 2020 and replace it with a harmonised taxes and levies law by 2026.

According to him, the overhaul is intended to eliminate multiple taxation, improve the ease of doing business, and boost internally generated revenue. The governor maintained that fairness would be central to the reforms, insisting that his administration would balance revenue generation with citizens’ welfare.

He also pledged immediate logistical support for the Tax Ombud Office, including the provision of office accommodation in the state.
MEANWHILE, the Niger Delta Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Trade and Agriculture (NDCCITMA) has called for a strategic shift in the region’s development approach, warning that persistent reliance on politically driven narratives has failed to deliver meaningful economic progress.

Chairman of the Board, Idare Gogo Ogan, said the region has, for decades, been discussed in “politically familiar but economically insufficient” terms such as derivation, militancy, ecological damage and amnesty, with little impact on sustainable growth.

He stressed that agitation and restiveness can no longer guarantee development outcomes, urging stakeholders to adopt deliberate strategies that harness the region’s vast human and natural endowments.

Ogan spoke yesterday at the Niger Delta Business Roundtable organised by the chamber, themed “Creating a New Development Agenda for the Niger Delta Region.”

“This time, we must deploy intellect, collaboration and clear economic thinking. The legacy we owe our children will come from deliberate and measurable actions,” he said.

He noted that the nine Niger Delta states account for about one-fifth of Nigeria’s economy, making the region critical to the country’s external earnings, gas reserves, maritime access and environmental sustainability.

However, he lamented that such endowments have not translated into productivity, value chain depth or investor confidence.

According to him, the challenge is not the lack of opportunities, but the poor conversion of those opportunities into bankable, financeable projects.