ABUJA: A cybersecurity expert, Dr Gabriel Akinremi, has said that Nigeria’s proposed 2026 tax implementation will test the country’s cybersecurity strength and digital readiness for managing a largely data-driven tax system.
Akinremi, Director of Programmes at the Cyber Security Experts Association of Nigeria, said this in an interview with journalists on Wednesday in Abuja.
The Federal Government has gazetted new tax reform laws, scheduled to take effect from January 2026, introducing sweeping incentives and reduced tax rates.
According to Akinremi, public discourse has focused mainly on revenue mobilisation and widening the tax net, with little attention paid to whether Nigeria is institutionally prepared to secure vast volumes of sensitive tax data.
He described the reform as a large-scale cybersecurity stress test, noting that its success would depend more on the resilience and integrity of digital infrastructure than on tax rates.
Akinremi explained that modern tax systems were complex data ecosystems, elevating Nigeria’s tax architecture to the status of Critical National Information Infrastructure, comparable to power, telecommunications and financial systems.
He said the new regime would integrate multiple data streams, including National Identity Number and Bank Verification Number databases, as primary tools for identifying taxpayers nationwide.
According to him, real-time financial data from banks, fintech platforms and point-of-sale systems would also be integrated, providing a comprehensive digital picture of economic activity across formal and informal sectors.
He added that telecommunications records, such as call data and mobile money transactions, alongside databases from the Corporate Affairs Commission, Nigeria Customs Service, land registries, vehicle licensing authorities and state internal revenue services, would further feed into the system.
Akinremi warned that a single major breach could expose sensitive data, erode public trust, disrupt revenue collection and trigger economic instability.
He stressed that tax data constituted strategic intelligence and that its compromise could pose a direct national security threat, especially in an era of advanced cybercrime and hybrid warfare.
According to him, compromised tax data could be weaponised for profiling, phishing, extortion, ransomware attacks, blackmail of businesses, market manipulation and even political interference.
He cautioned that corrupted or leaked tax data could distort national economic planning, weaken budgets and expose strategic industrial information to foreign competitors.
The expert urged the Federal Government to treat tax cybersecurity with the same seriousness as counter-terrorism and border security, adopting a proactive, security-by-design approach.
He called for a unified and legally binding cybersecurity framework for all tax-related agencies, aligned with national security doctrine and possibly overseen by the Office of the National Security Adviser.
Akinremi said the framework should mandate strong encryption, multi-factor authentication, strict access controls, secure data-sharing protocols and a coordinated national incident response mechanism.
He also advocated compulsory, independent and recurring cyber risk audits for all government and third-party platforms handling tax data, with findings reported to an independent oversight body.
According to him, tax administration must integrate cybersecurity as a core operational function, supported by empowered Chief Information Security Officers and embedded cybersecurity and data governance professionals.
Akinremi concluded that the success of Nigeria’s 2026 tax reform would ultimately depend on digital trust, warning that citizens would only comply with a system they believed was secure, fair and resistant to manipulation.
