He does not sit in the cabinet. He does not command a ministry. But if power in Abuja had a hallway nameplate, Zacch Adedeji’s would read something loftier than “Executive Chairman, FIRS.”
In a capital city thick with titles and ceremony, the nickname stands out—less for pomp, more for precision. Adedeji, the 47-year-old tax reformer from Oyo, has emerged as President Bola Tinubu’s most trusted fiscal mind, with walk-in privileges few in the Villa can claim. When policy needs calibrating or revenue projections need massaging, it is Adedeji who gets the call.
He is not one for the spotlight. But neither does he shrink from responsibility. As head of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Special Adviser to the President on Revenue, Adedeji straddles bureaucracy and statecraft with unusual ease. His reforms, quiet but seismic, are remapping Nigeria’s fiscal terrain. And his numbers speak in ways few headlines ever do.
While others chase political oxygen, Adedeji operates in clean lines and decimal points. Under his watch, FIRS posted a 144 per cent leap in revenue, even as he pushed to internalise 80 per cent of operations and reduce dependence on consultants. If bureaucracy is a maze, Adedeji prefers to redraw the blueprint.
But two months ago, his technocratic calm was tested when Abuja authorities shuttered FIRS offices over a ground rent dispute. He handled the fray with data, not drama, offering receipts up to 2023 and sidestepping the noise. The office reopened. The nickname endured.
Those who see him as a technocrat say it half in jest, half in awe. It reflects Adedeji’s growing influence, yes, but also the rare combination of discipline and discretion he brings to the table. He doesn’t grandstand. He delivers.
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