Fix The Leaking Bucket First!

By Dr jarlat Uche opara

As the year gets to a close and 2026 dawn very sure and certain; the discussion on the new tax regime very palpable. Recently I saw the various percentage attached to certain amount of earnings. The percentage distributions would bring more money into government coffers no doubt, but the question begging for an answer is, is money the problem of Nigeria? If the answer is in the negative, then more money wouldn’t solve anything. Nigeria’s Problem Isn’t Water, but a Leaking Bucket. There is water, enough to take care of all our domestic needs, the problem rather is the various leakages on the bucket, more like perforations. Until it gets fixed, no amount of water poured would be commensurately useful.

With this new tax regime Nigerians are once again told to pour more water into the national bucket. The bucket that leaks. The new tax reform though presented as the solution—broader tax base, improved revenue, economic stability, national development, would be more of penny wise pound foolish if the leakage isn’t fixed.

On the surface, it sounds reasonable. Every nation needs taxes to function no doubt. But beneath the logic lies a hard truth Nigerians have learned through painful repetition: our problem has never been water; it has always been a leaking bucket.

Nigeria is not a poor country in the true sense of the word. She is rich in people, rich in resources, rich in ideas, and rich in potential. Revenue flows in—from oil, gas, customs, levies, taxes, and loans. Yet development remains scarce, infrastructure decays, and citizens are constantly asked to “endure a little more.” The question then arises: where does the water go?

The new tax reform assumes that the core problem is insufficient revenue. But this is a misdiagnosis. When a bucket has holes, increasing the quantity of water does not solve the problem; it only increases the speed of loss. Nigeria’s challenge is not how much comes in, but how much leaks out through corruption, waste, inefficiency, and unchecked governance costs.

Each new tax regime places a heavier burden on ordinary citizens—workers, traders, small businesses—while the structures that enable leakage remain largely untouched. Multiple taxation persists. Compliance is demanded aggressively from the weak, while the powerful negotiate waivers, exemptions, and silence.
The result is not shared sacrifice, but selective pressure.

Even more troubling is the trust deficit. Taxes are a social contract: citizens contribute, and the state delivers services. In Nigeria, citizens are asked to contribute repeatedly, yet roads remain death traps, hospitals are under-equipped, schools deteriorate, and insecurity worsens. When people do not see the results of their contributions, taxation begins to feel less like civic duty and more like legalized extraction.

The new tax reform would make sense—only if accompanied by radical accountability. What Nigerians want is not endless policy announcements, but visible discipline in governance. Cut the cost of running government. Eliminate duplicated agencies. Prosecute financial crimes without sacred cows. Publish transparent records of tax collection and spending. Fix the holes.

No nation develops by taxing its citizens into exhaustion while protecting waste at the top. True reform begins not with new taxes, but with new standards—standards of integrity, prudence, and responsibility. Leadership must first prove it can manage what it already receives before demanding more from the people.

Nigeria does not lack water. She lacks a sound vessel.
Until the bucket is repaired, every new tax reform—no matter how well-worded—will be viewed with suspicion. Not because Nigerians hate progress, but because they are tired of pouring into a system that refuses to hold.

Fix the bucket. Then ask for more water. This new tax regime if the leakages are not fixed would be another source of increasing the revenue for the insatiable greed of our corrupt leaders to nourished and well taken care of.

For the umpteenth time the problem of Nigeria isn’t water rather the irrational and irritating perforations of the bucket where each hole accommodates the pipe of the looters of this country. 2026 with the tax regime in operation the looting capacity of our generational looters would expand. Until these holes are fixed, any money into the bucket would leak just like subsidy money is disappearing like ice under the sun uncounted for.

Jarlath Uche Opara Jarlathuche@gmail.com