Business
FG Makes N10tn VAT Under Buhari
The Federal Government has raked in N10.1tn from the collection of Value Added Tax under the regime of the President Muhammadu Buhari.
Consequently, the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, had adviced the in-coming government to increase the VAT from the current 7.5 per cent to 10 per cent.
VAT is a 7.5 per cent consumption tax administered by the Federal Inland Revenue Service when goods are purchased and services are rendered, and it is borne by the final consumer.
Revenue generated from VAT is usually disbursed to the three tiers of government through the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee.
An analysis of reports obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that the VAT earnings continued to rise annually throughout the eight-year period.
The country earned N759.4 billion in 2015, N777.5 billion in 2016, N972.4 billion in 2017 and N1.1 trillion in 2018.
VAT collections in 2019 amounted to N1.2tn, N1.5 trillion in 2020, N2.1tn in 2021 while N2.5 trillion was paid in 2022.
The Tide source reports that the significant increase in VAT collection in the past two years is not unconnected with the decision by the Federal Government in 2020 to increase the VAT rate from five per cent to 7.5 per cent. This was part of the tax reforms included in the 2019 Finance Act meant to help the government achieve its revenue projections.
Meanwhile, economists have cautioned against raising the VAT from 7.5 per cent to 10 per cent by the incoming administration, as they argued that it would stifle the country’s economic growth.
The Finance Minister, who made the call during a courtesy visit to the headquarters of Voice of Nigeria in Abuja recently, said, “VAT is one of the ways to increase revenue and we still have to increase VAT because, at 7.5 per cent, Nigeria has the lowest VAT rate in the world, not in Africa, in the world.
“In Sub-Saharan Africa, the African average is 18 per cent, when you increase your VAT, your Gross Domestic Product will grow.
“So, tax compliance has increased. As a result, we have also adjusted our VAT rate from five per cent to 7.5, even though our target was 10 per cent. But you know how it is in Nigeria, we are targeting 10 per cent by the second year, we did so to increase revenue”.
Reacting to the development, the Director, Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, Muda Yusuf, said the advice was coming too early considering the previous increase in 2020.
He said it was better to bring more people into the tax net than to impose more burden on those in the tax net.
“The revenue performance from VAT has generally been excellent in recent years. My view is that it is perhaps too early to review it again, especially in light of all the challenges that businesses are facing.
“Businesses are the main contributors of VAT and there are some other taxes that have already been proposed under the finance bill like excise and telecom tax. So, we have to be careful so as not to increase the burden on businesses.
“The better thing is to bring more people into the tax net than to impose more burden on those in the tax net”, he stated.
Cornerstone of Financial Services
A survey of more than 1 000 global finance leaders undertaken by digital payment network Ripple shows that 72% of respondents believe they need to offer a digital asset solution to remain competitive.
According to Ripple, leaders from the banking, fintech, corporate and asset management sector have made it clear that the “digital asset revolution is happening now”.
“Digital assets are quickly becoming a cornerstone of financial services, underpinned by progressive regulation, growing interest from Tier-1 banks, a steady consumer shift from banks to fintech providers, and booming stablecoin adoption,” Ripple says.
The survey was conducted in early 2026 and the findings released in March.
Stablecoin Boon or Bane?
Ripple has experienced significant success in the stablecoin sector since launching its Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin in 2024.
With a market cap of $1.56 billion, it is considered a major regulated player in the market.
No doubt the platform was pleased to learn through its own survey that financial leaders were most bullish about stablecoins.
Roughly three-quarters of respondents believed they could boost cash-flow efficiency and unlock trapped working capital.
Ripple noted that finance leaders were thinking about stablecoins as more than “just a new way to execute payments”; instead, they viewed them as effective tools for treasury management.
In March 2026, Ripple began testing a new trade finance model built around RLUSD in a bid to increase the speed of cross-border payments.
The pilot initiative, developed alongside supply chain finance company Unloq [https://unloq.com], is running on the XRP Ledger inside a testing framework developed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The Asian city-state is one of the platform’s biggest growth markets.
The idea behind the project is to see whether stablecoin-based settlement can streamline trade finance, too often hampered by reliance on intermediaries and slow reconciliation.
The only potential drawback is that if the initiative takes off, the Ripple to USD price could be negatively affected.
Ripple has always championed its native XRP token as a bridge asset, the “middleman” in the process of a financial institution turning dollars in the US into pounds in the UK, for example.
Ripple converts dollars into XRP and then back into pounds.
If RLUSD can do exactly the same thing, questions will be asked about XRP’s relevance.
That is a bridge Ripple will have to cross if it gets to that point.
Tokenisation Partners
Another interesting finding from Ripple’s survey is that most banks and asset managers are seeking tokenisation partners to help execute their strategies.
Some 89% of respondents said digital asset storage and custody were top priority. “Token servicing/lifecycle management also ranks highly for banks at 82%, while asset managers place greater emphasis on primary distribution at 80%,” Ripple found.
The survey also revealed that just more than half of fintechs and financial institutions want an infrastructure provider that can offer a “one-stop-shop solution”. This rose to 71% among corporate financial leaders.
Ripple attributes this to institutions and firms wanting uncomplicated, cohesive systems.
Infrastructure Rules
In its final analysis, Ripple says companies across the board are looking for partners and solutions that are “secure, compliant, battle-tested and that enable growth and execution”.
“The message is clear: infrastructure decisions made today will shape competitive positioning tomorrow.”
No surprise that this is precisely where Ripple is placing much of its focus.
