Governor Makinde made the call during the Opening ceremony of the 157th Joint Tax Board (JTB) meeting held in Ibadan, the State Capital.
The Oyo State Governor Engr. Seyi Makinde, on Monday welcomed delegates from across Nigeria to a national tax stakeholders’ meeting, held in Ibadan the state Capital.
The meeting, themed “Taxation of the Informal Sector: Potentials and Challenges”, brought together key stakeholders in Nigeria’s tax administration landscape, with consensus emerging on the need for systemic reforms to ensure long-term fiscal sustainability.
Addressing the Tax Stakeholders present , the Oyo State Governor Engineer Seyi Makinde noted that the meeting aligns with ongoing national efforts to reform and expand Nigeria’s tax base.
The Governor underscored the importance of collaboration, innovation, and a grounded understanding of the country’s economic realities in transforming tax administration and reducing over-reliance on federal allocations.
Highlighting the paradox of Nigeria’s immense natural wealth and widespread poverty, Govenor Makinde asserted that natural resources alone cannot deliver prosperity, adding that people must be mobilized, invest in skills and knowledge, and prioritize intensive production.
Also Speaking the Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service FIRS and Chairman, Joint Tax Board (JTB), Dr Zacchaeus Dr. Zacch Adedeji, who praised the Makinde administration for its transformational governance, reiterated his stance that formalizing, and not taxing, the informal sector is key to building a sustainable and inclusive tax system, adding that the informal sector represents over 92.6% of Nigeria’s employed population
In his welcome address, the Chairman of the Oyo State Internal Revenue Service (OYSIRS), Mr. Ola Awakan, lauded the state’s progress under Governor Makinde.
However, he stressed that genuine tax reform must include granting revenue services financial, administrative, and operational autonomy.
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