A section of the document, titled “2026 Budget and Strategies at Improving IGR,” points to an aggressive revenue drive coming at a time when Nigerians are grappling with severe economic pressure, business closures, job losses, rising inflation, and public distrust of government fiscal policies.
As anxiety deepens across Nigeria over the implementation of far-reaching tax reforms scheduled for 2026 by President Bola Tinubu’s administration, SaharaReporters has obtained an internal planning document showing that Alpha-Beta Consulting LLP, a firm long linked to President Bola Tinubu, has set a target of generating ₦2.83 trillion in tax revenue from Lagos State alone next year.
A section of the document, titled “2026 Budget and Strategies at Improving IGR,” points to an aggressive revenue drive coming at a time when Nigerians are grappling with severe economic pressure, business closures, job losses, rising inflation, and public distrust of government fiscal policies.
According to the internal figures, Lagos State’s tax revenue stood at “₦1,252,669,245,400.07” as of December 31, 2024, rising to “₦1,409,018,340,857.74” by October 31, 2025. However, Alpha-Beta’s projection for 2026 jumps dramatically to “₦2,830,000,000,000.00.”
The sharp increase could trigger concerns among tax professionals, small business owners, and civil society groups, who fear that the revenue ambition may result in more aggressive enforcement, wider tax surveillance, and tougher penalties, particularly for already distressed companies.
This fear appears reinforced by the company’s own assessment of taxpayer behaviour, where it complained that “some taxpayers are in the habit of making staggered payments in contrary to the tax law.”
In a period of economic downturn, staggered or delayed payments have become a survival strategy for many businesses, raising concerns that stricter enforcement could push more firms into collapse.
Despite the ambitious projection, the document reveals that Alpha-Beta itself faced significant operational challenges throughout 2025.
Among the problems listed were “incessant network down time and power supply at our offices outside the Headquarters” and “incessant power supply at our offices in Alausa Secretariat.”
The firm also admitted to systemic failures in revenue monitoring and compliance enforcement, including “inability to monitor PAYE paid under Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS)” and “challenges with some MDAs revenue codes not available on LRP.”
Perhaps most revealing is Alpha-Beta’s admission that “all efforts to access information about distressed companies or companies that have stopped operation due to economic hardship from LIRS (Lagos Internal Revenue Service) proved abortive hence wastages of productive hours and embarrassment from the concerned companies.”
This acknowledgement sharply contrasts with the massive revenue expectations being placed on the same struggling economic environment.
The document further lists unresolved technical and logistical issues, including “pending outstanding technical issue with the Technical Team,” “inadequate and malfunctioning operation tools e.g., Laptop, UPS,” and repeated “Ibile Card printing challenges.”
Despite these setbacks, Alpha-Beta declared 2025 a successful year, stating that “our efforts geared towards improving IGR and we are able to generate a total sum of ₦1,409,018,340,857.74 as at 31st October, 2025.”
The firm claimed it “facilitated onboarding of 122 MDAs on LRP,” monitored “11,762 corporate payers,” enumerated “7,042 new potential payers,” and sent “28,628 Bulk SMS” to defaulters—although it admitted that bulk messaging later stopped due to “logistic issues.”
It also reported a rise in active taxpayers, stating that “570,590 total companies” paid taxes as of October 2025, with 218,258 remitting PAYE, compared to figures recorded the previous year.
Additional achievements listed include “₦125.52m in value added back to various tax audit reports,” validation of “119,380 and 3,631 ARR and ETCC respectively,” recovery of “long outstanding debt,” and “23,451 companies Data Cleansing in the database.”
The revelations come amid heightened public sensitivity around taxation, with Nigerians increasingly questioning the fairness, timing, and transparency of the Tinubu government’s fiscal reforms.