The Northern Christian Youth Alliance (NCYA) has praised President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms, particularly the removal of the fuel subsidy and the overhaul of Nigeria’s tax administration, describing them as courageous steps that have placed the country on a path of long-term fiscal sustainability.
In a statement released on Tuesday and signed by Evangelist Benjamin Akoka, the group specifically highlighted the contributions of Zacch Adedeji, Executive Chairman of the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), in designing and implementing a taxation framework that prioritises taxing prosperous Nigerians while shielding the vulnerable from undue burden.
According to the Alliance, Adedeji has played a pivotal role in advancing policies that expand the tax base, improve compliance among high-income earners and large corporations, and introduce progressive measures that exempt low-income households and small businesses.
The group linked these efforts to broader gains from the May 29, 2023 subsidy removal, which Adedeji has publicly defended as preventing a potential annual subsidy bill of about ₦53 trillion and an exchange rate deterioration toward ₦3,500 to the dollar amid global oil market pressures and geopolitical tensions.
“The decision to end the fuel subsidy was not a political gamble but a necessary intervention that saved Nigeria from deeper fiscal ruin. Chairman Zacch Adedeji has consistently explained that subsidy was never true income but a system of borrowing to buy petrol at market rates and sell it far below cost,” Akoka said.
“We commend him for standing firm and helping the nation understand that this reform, though painful in the short term, has freed resources for productive investment.
Under his leadership at the NRS, taxation has been redirected toward prosperity rather than poverty.
“The policy of taxing the fruit and not the seed, the return and not the investment, ensures that wealthy individuals and successful enterprises contribute fairly while low-income earners earning up to ₦800,000 annually remain exempt from personal income tax, and essential goods and services enjoy VAT relief. This is equity in action.”
The Alliance noted that Adedeji’s public interventions, including recent appearances explaining the inherited distortions of an unsustainable subsidy regime, an opaque foreign-exchange market, an underperforming oil sector and a narrow tax base, have helped clarify the rationale behind the administration’s difficult choices.
It pointed to improvements in government revenue mobilisation, higher Federation Account allocations to states and local governments, growth in external reserves, and increased domestic refining capacity as evidence that the reforms are beginning to yield structural benefits.
The group emphasised that these fiscal gains create room for social interventions, infrastructure and human capital development that ultimately protect ordinary citizens, including Christian youth in the North who face economic pressures alongside security challenges.
By focusing revenue efforts on those with greater capacity to pay, the Alliance argued, Adedeji’s approach aligns with principles of fairness and national rebuilding.
“We particularly applaud the NRS Chairman for rejecting the notion that government should simply extract more from citizens. Instead, he has repeatedly stated that the focus is not revenue for its own sake but creating conditions in which businesses and individuals prosper so that the tax base expands naturally,” Akoka added.
“This philosophy has guided the new tax laws that consolidate previous statutes, simplify compliance and place progressive rates on higher earners while protecting the poor.”
The Northern Christian Youth Alliance believes that such policies demonstrate visionary leadership.
According to them, President Tinubu’s willingness to prioritise the long-term health of the economy over short-term political calculations, and Adedeji’s technical stewardship of the revenue system, deserve recognition from all well-meaning Nigerians, especially the youth who will inherit the economy being built today.
The Alliance further observed that the combination of subsidy removal and tax modernisation has shifted Nigeria away from dependence on borrowing to fund consumption subsidies toward a more sustainable revenue model.
In the view of the group, these reforms also support broader goals of economic diversification, investor confidence and reduced vulnerability to global oil price shocks.
By taxing high-income segments more effectively through better compliance tools, digital systems and progressive structures, while shielding the vulnerable, the administration is laying foundations that can eventually ease the cost-of-living pressures that followed the initial reform adjustments.
“The Northern Christian Youth Alliance stands with these policies because they protect the weak while asking more of those who have been blessed with greater means,” Evang Akoka stated.
“Zacch Adedeji’s insistence on taxing prosperity has contributed largely to an administration approach that seeks fairness rather than blanket extraction. We urge continued implementation with transparency and empathy so that the benefits reach communities across the North and the entire federation.
“We call on other youth organisations, faith-based groups and civil society to study the data and recognise that short-term hardship must be weighed against the alternative of national insolvency.
“The courage shown by President Tinubu and the professional diligence of Chairman Adedeji represent a solid foundation upon which a more resilient Nigerian economy can be built for generations to come.”