At the 2026 FFD Forum plenary session “Country strategies and platforms” on 24 April 2026, Ms. Sanyade Okoli, Special Advisor to the Minister of Finance, Federal Ministry of Finance, Nigeria, presented Nigeria’s approach to the Sevilla Commitment as a practical reform agenda aligned with the country’s economic transformation objectives.
The speech highlights Nigeria’s recent fiscal reforms, including four major tax reform laws, a development levy, digitalisation of revenue systems, stronger treasury transparency and tighter controls to reduce leakages. It frames the INFF as a tool for coherence, linking the National Development Plan, budgeting, fiscal spending and the medium-term expenditure framework. The intervention also points to state-level INFF pilots that are improving revenue mobilisation and strengthening investment pipelines, while acknowledging ongoing coordination challenges across federal and subnational systems.
You can find the full script below:
For Nigeria, the Sevilla Commitment is not a theoretical framework. It is a practical reform agenda that aligns squarely with our economic transformation objectives.
It is about how we mobilise domestic resources more effectively, how we improve the efficiency of public finance and how we use scarce public capital more strategically to crowd in private investment.
Since Mr. President took office in May 2023, Nigeria has been undertaking a bold and necessary reform programme. More specifically, over the past year, we have implemented one of the most significant overhauls of our fiscal architecture in decades.
At the centre of the effort was a decisive shift towards stronger domestic resource mobilisation.
We have passed four major tax reform laws designed to broaden the tax base, improve administrative efficiency, improve fairness and equity and align with global standards.
We have also introduced a development levy to consolidate fragmented charges, improving collection while ensuring that revenues are directed towards national priorities.
But this is not just about raising more revenue. It is equally about improving how public resources are managed.
We are digitalising our revenue systems. We have done a lot of work to strengthen treasury transparency and tighten controls to reduce leakages.
We are also engaging globally on tax expenditures, recognizing that revenue foregone is just as important as the revenue we collect.
As with many other countries, all of this is taking place within a constrained fiscal environment. So the question is not simply how to raise more, but also how to use what we have more effectively and more catalytically.
On the question of the INFF, it is really about coherence.
We have been addressing cohesion and coordination through the INFF. In practical terms, we use the National Development Plan. It is a five-year plan. It is currently being updated, but it is what our budgeting and fiscal spending are hinged on.
We also set up a fiscal coordination committee last year, which has worked across government to ensure alignment on fiscal reporting, but also on some of the key assumptions that we are using in our medium-term expenditure framework.
At the state level, INFF pilots are improving revenue mobilisation and strengthening investment pipelines.
Coordination challenges remain, particularly across federal and subnational systems, but the direction is clear and a lot of progress has been made.
We are moving from fragmented decision-making to a more integrated and disciplined approach to financing development.
.png)
