The Presidency has weighed in on the controversy surrounding alleged discrepancies in the newly enacted tax reform laws scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2026.
The clarification comes amid calls by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party candidate Peter Obi, and several civil society organisations for the suspension of the implementation of the laws.
A member of the House of Representatives, Abdulsamad Dasuki, had recently raised concerns over what he described as discrepancies between the tax laws passed by the National Assembly and the versions later gazetted and made available to the public.
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Dasuki argued that his legislative rights were breached, insisting that the contents of the gazetted tax laws did not reflect what lawmakers debated and approved on the floor of the House.
However, speaking on Channels Television’s Morning Brief on Monday, Chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Taiwo Oyedele, dismissed the claims, describing the circulating documents as fake.
“Before you can say there is a difference between what was gazetted and what was passed, we have what has not been gazetted. We don’t have what was passed,” Oyedele said.
“The official harmonised bills certified by the clerk, which the National Assembly sent to the President, we don’t have a copy to compare. Only the lawmakers can say authoritatively what was sent.
“It should be the House of Representatives or Senate version. It should be the harmonised version certified by the clerk. Even me, I cannot say that I have it. I only have what was presented to Mr President to sign.”
Oyedele further revealed that he reached out to the House of Representatives Committee regarding a controversial provision, Section 41(8), which reportedly required a 20 per cent deposit.
He noted that the committee responded that it had not met to deliberate on the matter.
“I know that particular provision is not in the final gazette, but it was in the draft gazette. Some people decided that they should write the report of the committee before the committee had met, and it circulated everywhere,” he said.
“What is out there in the media did not come from the committee set up by the House of Representatives. I think we should allow them to do the investigation,” Oyedele added.
President Bola Tinubu recently signed four tax reform bills into law, describing the move as the most significant overhaul of Nigeria’s tax system in decades.
The reforms, which faced stiff opposition from some federal lawmakers, particularly from the northern part of the country before their passage, are scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2026.
The laws include the Nigeria Tax Act, the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, and the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Act, all operating under a single authority, the Nigeria Revenue Service.
According to the Federal Government, the reforms are aimed at simplifying tax compliance, expanding the tax base, eliminating multiple taxation, and modernising revenue collection across federal, state, and local governments.
