Activist says NRA has potential to collect more non-oil revenue with improved management

By Jenifer James

The Executive Director for the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO), Edmund Yakani, has said that the National Revenue Authority (NRA) should strengthen transparency and accountability in order to surpass the recent milestone reached in March, 2025.

This comes on the back of NRA announcing collection of 132.6 billion South Sudanese Pounds in non-oil revenue within last month.

This is a significant rise compared to SSP 17 billion in January and SSP 34 billion in February 2025.

Yakani in a statement issued on Tuesday, acknowledged the significance of this figure, and also emphasized that the real issue lies in the transparency of both the collection process and the use of these funds.

“This shows that our country is not financially struggling. We have substantial revenue sources,” he said.

He noted that there are still significant problems with how revenue is being handled.

Yakani argued that South Sudan, with its large consumer market for East African goods, has the potential to generate even more income from non-oil sources.

“If we can eliminate malpractices, we can generate enough income from non-oil revenue,” he said.

Yakani called for more frequent and transparent reports on revenue collection, particularly as a means of ensuring accountability.

“Regularly declaring the collection of revenue from both non-oil and oil sources once they resume is crucial,” he disclosed, adding that this would allow the public to track the usage of the funds.

Yakani criticized the government’s failure to fully implement the centralization of revenue collection, a policy that had been ordered by the President.

He noted that some public institutions are still not complying with the mandate to channel revenue into a central account.

However, he commended the Vice President for Economic Cluster, Benjamin Bol Mel for pushing for greater adherence to this policy.