Nigeria Revenue Service grew income by 30% to N28.3trn in 2025

…exceeded revenue target by 12%

The Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) has announced a staggering 30 percent increase in annual revenue, reaching a record-breaking N28.3 trillion for the 2025 fiscal year as compared to to N21.7 trillion in 2024. With this revenue in 2025, the NRC exceeded its revenue target (N25.2 trillion) by 12 percent.

Amina Ado Kurawa, executive director, government & large taxpayers, stated this at NRS leadership retreat held in Abuja on Tuesday. She explained that both oil and non-oil revenues grew sharply year-on- year in 2025, by 19 percent and 35 percent respectively.

According to Kurawa, for the year 2025, oil tax revenue totalled N 6.8 trillion, representing a growth of 19 percent over the N5.8 trillion realized during the corresponding period in 2024. While non-oil tax revenue for 2025 exceeded the 2024 total, reaching NGN 21.5 trillion compared to N15.9trillion for the same period in 2024, representing a growth of 35 percent.

“So if we look at the oil collection, that’s where we have been challenged over the years, and we were hopeful that the PIA was going to make things better, but I guess that recent reforms by the current government, we are optimistic will help the oil and gas industry to be able to now begin to have more impact, because if we look at it, the oil and gas industry has actually been struggling for many years.

“But since inception of the current president, we have seen some reforms that have been done, and in the next couple of years, the results of those reforms we believe will be able to impact more on the revenue from the oil and gas industry.

“Now if we look at the non-oil collection, this is where we outperformed, and we were able to do 19 percent more than planned across all the major tax types, we were able to exceed our target.

“If we look at the performance during the year, it was driven by VAT, we exceeded our target on VAT, we also exceeded our target on CIT, and we also, the CGT that was hitherto not really performing, all of a sudden, a lot of divestment by the oil and gas industry, and they paid the CGT, so CGT outperformed considerably last year, and maybe they were anticipating the new reforms, and they quickly did what they had to do, we don’t know, but one thing we know is that CGT last year was one of exceptional performance, and mainly driven by the oil and gas industry,” she said.

Kurawa attributed this growth to administrative enhancements, broadening of the withholding tax system, digitalization efforts, improved tax compliance Initiatives, and stronger enforcement tactics introduced by the Service.

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She also noted improvement in the filing and payment of taxes, emphasizing the importance of compliance as it relates to revenue generation. “For all 11 months we did better in 2025 compared to 2024, and for me that shows consistent improvement as a result of the disciplined approach we had throughout the year. And this for me again is a slide that shows, it’s not really just about revenue, what drives the revenue is the compliance.

“These numbers show that there was an improvement in the filing and payment, consistently, over the last few years. And last year we saw that consistency, whether it’s CIT with holding income, VAT, EMTL, stamp duties, and VAT, the number of filings and payment increased considerably,” she added.

Speaking further, Kurawa explained that the Service had redesigned it’s organizational structure in 2024 to improve the coherence in the system. “We also clarified reporting lines and accountability, we removed duplication of functions, and we realigned tax offices and audits under the same leadership.

“Previously, taxpayers often interacted with multiple departments, sometimes receiving inconsistent instructions, and we spent a lot of time trying to fix these issues when they come up to the level of management. But after that reform, we saw more clarity, the taxpayers now interact with a more coordinated structure. Customer service and audit functions were better aligned in the same department.

“Issues were resolved faster, with less back and forth between departments, and the directors were empowered to get on with what matters, which is improving compliance, making sure the taxpayer files and pays, and if you need to escalate debt management, you do so. This reduced internal friction within the service, and also reduced compliance friction for taxpayers. And when friction reduces, as alluded to by the previous speaker, compliance improves,” she said.

And then importantly as well, there were policy and tax reforms, even preceding the current, more comprehensive reform that we are now going to implement.

According to Kurawa, the finance acts that were introduced by the previous administration also helped to close loopholes, clarified ambiguities, created anti-avoidance provisions that were strengthened, and penalties and enforcement were tightened.

“Remember also, after four years of giving extensions, and forgiving penalties and interest, in 2024 there was a conscious decision by the chairman that we should not do filing extensions, and we should not waive penalty and interest.

“And when we did that in 2024, the message was very clear to all taxpayers, that you must fulfill your obligation on time, and that helped us ensure that we met our target even before the December deadline. And then I remind us also another major reform that we did, which was aimed at boosting our banks’ performance. By expanding the between bank system, by bringing in banks and major telecommunication companies, we improved the VAT we had collected, that used to be lost because a lot of contractors in that sector were not permitting the VAT.