Senate President Godswill Akpabio has said that Nigerians were once prepared to pay N10,000 per litre for fuel, but they could not access the product.
He hinted that since the advent of the current administration, there are no fuel queues anymore on account of the strategic reforms in the country’s petroleum industry.
He spoke on Tuesday at the commissioning of the 16-storey Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) Headquarters in Abuja, where he also urged Nigerians to be patient with the Tinubu administration, noting that the economic reforms are already yielding results.
“Nobody has noticed that since we came on board, we have not had 3-5 km of vehicles lined up at fuel stations to buy petrol. There was a time that we were prepared to pay even N10,000 per litre for fuel, but they could not see the fuel. But today, there is no single fuel queue in Nigeria.
“Nobody is saying that because we encouraged and partnered with the private sector for the first time, we are now producing what we consume and consuming what we produce. We even go to the extent of sending it to other countries,’’ he noted.
Speaking, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, commended the President for strengthening the economy with new reforms.
“For many years, our revenue system struggled less from a lack of effort than from a lack of coherence. We operated multiple regimes, overlapping mandates and fragmented legal frameworks. The result was predictable—high effort, low yields, limited public confidence.
“What has come under your administration is not only the policy directive, but also the underlying logic of the system. The reforms have sought to align rules, institutions and incentives within a single framework”, Abbas said.
In his welcome address, the Executive Chairman of the NRS, Dr Zacch Adedeji, described the commissioning of the headquarters building as “the culmination of a defining institutional journey.”
“When this administration assumed office, Nigeria faced a critical inflexion point marked by fiscal constraints, weakened investor confidence and structural distortion across key sectors. What followed was not an incremental adjustment but a comprehensive concept of the nation’s economic and financial architecture.
“Through your decisive actions, you restored microeconomic credibility, unified foreign exchange markets, cleared long-standing backlogs and re-established confidence in Nigeria’s ability to operate a transparent and market-driven system,’’ he added.
Adedeji thanked the President for providing visionary leadership and support to the NRS.
“These were not easy decisions, but they were necessary. History will recognise and be kind to you for them. Building on this foundation, your administration undertook one of the most significant revenue reforms in Nigeria’s history.
“To put this in perspective, the first tax laws in this country were enacted in 1903, 133 years ago. We changed that. Over 60 fragmented tax laws were streamlined into a simplified and more coherent framework, strengthening compliance, improving predictability, and enabling efficient administration,” Adedeji noted.
He emphasised that the new tax laws are not “driven by a higher tax burden, but by a better system with broadened coverage and improved structural governance.”
According to Adedeji, “Five years ago, the total collection for Nigeria’s revenue was N6.8 trillion, and by 2025, we ended the year with N28.7 trillion.
He added that, beyond taxation, fiscal governance has been strengthened to improve remittances, enhance transparency, and tighten control over public finance flows.
“To put this in perspective, Mr President, in May 2023, when you assumed office, the total money available for the federation was N711 billion. By September 2025, it was N3.6 trillion, which is 400% above what we inherited, and you can see that from the commissioning you’ve done in the states. They allude to the fact that you’ve given them what no government in the history of Nigeria has given to them.
“Trade has been modernised through the recently launched National Single Window (NSW), reducing inefficiency and boosting revenue. Ten years ago, we tried to implement the National Single Window six times. In less than three years under your leadership, in collaboration with the Nigeria Customs Service, we launched the National Single Window on March 27th,” Adedeji stated.
Guan Shuai, the Managing Director of China Civil Engineering and Construction Company (CECC), which completed the edifice, delivered a goodwill message.
He stated that President Tinubu has demonstrated visionary leadership within less than three years in office, by taking tough decisions that will benefit the nation and posterity.
Shuai noted that the Renewed Hope Agenda has repositioned the economy for foreign direct investment, with the President consistently commissioning infrastructure projects across states.
“When I was a young man, I saw him use his leadership and visionary planning to achieve so much in Lagos, and now he has established a party and united many people,’’ he stated.