The Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) said that sustained implementation, institutional capacity building and continuous stakeholders’ engagement would remain essential in achieving the full benefits of the new tax reforms.

President of the CITN, Innocent Ohagwa, told The Guardian that the new tax reforms are designed to harmonise multiple taxes and levies, improve coordination among the different tiers of government and modernise revenue administration through the use of technology and data.

Ohagwa said the framework provided for the establishment of Local Government Revenue Authorities (LGRAs) for assessment and collection within their jurisdictions, while enabling supervisory collaboration with state internal revenue services to support capacity development, accountability and uniform standards.

He said the reforms introduced a more structured and coordinated framework for revenue administration across all tiers of government, to improve efficiency, clarity of roles and consistency in tax administration practices.

The reform programme, he said, seeks to address these challenges by simplifying processes, strengthening administrative structures, and promoting standardisation in revenue administration nationwide, even as he said the previous system was characterised by fragmented frameworks and varying practices at sub-national levels.

He said under the expanded mandate of the Joint Revenue Board, over 45 previously fragmented state and local government taxes and levies have been streamlined into nine clearly defined taxes.

According to him, states have since transmitted the taxes to their respective houses of assembly for legislative enactment, with several already passed into law and others in advanced stages of the process.

He said sustained implementation, institutional capacity building and continuous stakeholders’ engagement would remain essential to achieving the full benefits of the reform.

As a professional body, he said, the CITN would continue to support government at all levels through capacity development, professional certification, advisory engagement and the promotion of best-practice revenue administration to ensure that the objectives of the tax reforms are effectively realised across the country.