Financial experts in the country have hailed the appointment of an American-based Nigerian financial consultant, Dr. John C. Nwabueze, as the pioneer Tax Ombudsman following the establishment of the Joint Revenue Board of Nigeria (Establishment) Act of 2025 which supports the ongoing ambitious tax and revenue reforms in the nation.
‘Dr Nwabueze is a square peg is a square hole’, declared Professor Lucy UcheOnyekwelu, president of the Association of Management and Social Sciences Researchers of Nigeria (AMSSR), to journalists this morning.
Professor Onyekwelu, who is of the Department of Accountancy at the Enugu State University of Science & Technology and the pioneering chairman of the Agbani Society and District of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) where she is also a fellow, continued: ‘Dr Nwabueze does not just have the knowledge of an international industry practitioner in the United States but has also been deeply involved in the management of Nigeria’s financial and economic matters in both the executive and legislative branches over the years’.
Speaking to journalists in Abuja today, Chief Mike N. Ejezie, an economist and former banker who is also a fellow of both ICAN and the Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (ITN), noted that since the role of the Tax Ombudsman is new in Nigeria, ‘it is critical that the person chosen to lay the foundation is one who can immediately command the respect of both experts and lay persons.
A tax ombudsman is the soul of the country’s revenue and tax system, according to Chief Ejezie.
‘He protects the interests of tax payers as well as public interests, and ensures inclusion and fairness’.
Ejezie expressed satisfaction that Dr Nwabueze, who is from Asaba in Delta State, has been a tax practitioner in the United States since the early 1990s, and earned postgraduate degrees in accounting and finance, rising to become the managing partner of a tax firm in America’.
In a statement in Lagos today, Mr. Tunde MacAlabi, an international entrepreneur with business interests in Nigeria and the United States, lauded President Bola Tinubu for selecting ‘a competent financial expert to lead this important organization to promote transparency in the nation’s tax system and make it very competitive.
‘President Tinubu made the choice based on the character, competence, and qualifications of the new tax ombudsman.
‘The president is not interested in Dr Nwabueze’s faith, ethnicity or any of the primordial factors that make Nigeria underperform’.
An economist and retired investment banker, Willie Nwokoye, described Dr Nwabueze’s appointment as ‘strategic’.
Nwokoye and Nwabueze have been friends since their University of Jos where the former read economics and the latter mathematics.
President Tinubu, Nwokoye stated, did not care whether Dr Nwabueze ‘is a card-carrying member of any party before head-hunting him to lead the new effort to renew trust in the nation’s tax system through transparency and probity.
‘The success of the ongoing tax and revenue reforms hinges on how much faith the Nigerian people have in the new system, making Nwabueze’s job extremely important.
‘I have known Dr Nwabueze for several decades, and I can testify to his acute-mindedness and vision’.
