In 2004 Ifueko Omoigui Okauru, a management consultant with no previous government experience, took on the challenge of fixing Nigeria’s corrupt and dysfunctional tax system. As executive chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, she was responsible for reforming a weak and ineffective organization to meet the needs of a changing country. To reduce its heavy dependence on oil, Nigeria needed to diversify its revenue streams beyond the petroleum sector. Improved tax administration offered an avenue toward achieving that goal. In overhauling the tax system, Omoigui Okauru had to overcome entrenched opposition from private consultants who earned high pay under the existing system, defeat the institutional inertia that characterized the revenue service, and curb the corruption that fueled citizens’ distrust and hampered tax collection. To advance her vision for modernized tax administration, she recruited talented professionals and instituted specialized career tracks for employees, alongside additional training modules for existing staff and a reorganization of departments and functions. This case study chronicles the first five years of Omoigui Okauru’s efforts to improve tax collection in Nigeria and offers an example of how an outside leader working with a team of experienced professionals can build the coalitions necessary for legislative, policy and administrative reforms.

Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf took office in January 2006 knowing she had much to do to rebuild her country. Liberia was one of the poorest nations in the world. A 14-year civil war had destroyed most of the country’s physical infrastructure. The health-care system had collapsed. Few people had jobs. Sirleaf had ambitious plans to develop Liberia’s economy, but she knew she would have to rebuild the government itself in order to move forward. Many skilled Liberians had fled during the war, and those who remained did not have access to regular schooling. Lack of training and experience at all levels of government, from ministers to office helpers, threatened the president’s ability to translate plans into action. But paralysis threatened to trigger popular discontent and might even reignite conflict. Sirleaf needed to recruit highly skilled people for top leadership positions and build capacity in the middle and lower ranks. Fast action was crucial—and every option available risked increasing levels of inequality and suspicion if not managed carefully. The president persuaded three distinguished Liberians to help her attract and develop talent. Minister of Finance Antoinette Sayeh was the first to arrive, followed by C. William Allen, who became director general of the Civil Service Agency, and Harold Monger, who led the Liberia Institute of Public Administration. During the next five years, that team recruited more than 200 highly skilled professionals, trained over a thousand civil servants, and made government a more attractive place to work. Although substantial gaps remained in 2011, the Liberian government was on its way to escaping a problem that often rekindled violence in other post-conflict countries.