Paper short abstract:

Nigeria is amid transition from oil-reliance to non-oil tax-based revenue. New policies and initiatives have been developed, advocated, refined. This paper traces pathways via which these models travel, highlighting modes of design and innovation which go beyond technical/political binaries.

Paper long abstract:

Nigeria is an often-cited example of an oil state, but now amid a transition away from oil-revenue-reliance to non-oil-based taxation-based revenue; and a Federal state in which tax powers are split between the national (Federal) government and the constitutent States. Therefore amid this transition, a number of different tax policies and initiatives have been developed, advocated, taken up and refined. This paper traces the different pathways via which these innovated models travel, ranging from the formal governmental dissemination structures, to peer-to-peer learning, to transmission via private-sector partners and third-party advocates. It contrasts a number of intentional purposive advocacy and policy transmission mechanisms with others based in political and commercial networks of ‘affiliated technocrats’, and in doing so highlights a mode of policy design and innovation which goes beyond the technical/political binary. The paper particularly uses insights from four years of engagement via a research engagement programme, and from work with Nigeria’s Federal and State tax bodies.