INTERROGATING THE CAPACITY OF THE JOINT REVENUE BOARD TO ACHIEVE THE OBJECTIVES OF ITS ESTABLISHMENT BY LAW

Abstract

Recently, the National Assembly passed four tax laws into law. These four Acts changed the narrative of tax regime in Nigeria. Among the four acts is the Joint Revenue Board of Nigeria (Est.) Act No. 4 of 2025. The Joint Revenue Board of Nigeria (Establishment) Act, 20251 is set to be a game changer on how to harmonize revenue administration and resolve fiscal disputes among Nigeria’s federating units. The issue that animates this paper is the continued dispersion and competition of taxing agencies, which have led to overlapping jurisdictions, fiscal leakage and a dearth of taxpayers’ rights. This paper seeks to provide a normative assessment of section 1 of the Act that establishes the Board’s purposes and objectives as including harmonization, dispute resolution and protection of taxpayer rights using public choice theory concepts and normative legal institutionalism framework. Deploying a doctrinal legal approach, the paper analyzes statutes, case law, and fiscal principles in an effort to determine how Section 1 discriminates between state autonomy and the common good. The argument carried forth by the paper is that although policy goals of the Act promote federal consistency and legal accountability, institutional incentives within the JRB can mirror prime-line bureaucratic competition such as it attempts to prevent. It suggests that lasting change will depend on transparency, open decision-making and increased oversight. It suggests that such normative principles on justice, equity and accountability should be written into the objective of the Board to ensure that it is not only an instrument for administrative efficiency but a standard bearer of constitutional fairness.