The Presidency intervened on Monday regarding the growing controversy surrounding the new tax laws set to commence on January 1, 2026.
This follows urgent calls from former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Labour Party’s Peter Obi, and various civil society groups to suspend the implementation of the reforms.
The debate intensified after a member of the House of Representatives, Abdulsamad Dasuki, alleged “discrepancies” between the laws passed by the National Assembly and the versions later gazetted for the public.
Read Also: Gazetted Tax Reform Laws Differ From Versions Passed By National Assembly – PDP Rep Raises Alarm [VIDEO]
Dasuki claimed his legislative rights were breached, as the gazetted content supposedly did not reflect what lawmakers actually debated and approved.
However, appearing on Channels Television’s Morning Brief, Taiwo Oyedele, Chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, dismissed the viral reports as “fake.”
He clarified that an official comparison is currently impossible because the final harmonized versions have not been widely accessed.
“Before you can say there is a difference between what was gazette and what was passed, we have what has not been gazette. We don’t have what was passed,” Oyedele explained.
“The official harmonised bills certified by the clerk, which the National Assembly sent to the President, we don’t have a copy to compare… Even me, I cannot say that I have it. I only have what was presented to Mr President to sign.”
Addressing a specific concern regarding Section 41 (8), which reportedly required a “20 per cent deposit,” Oyedele noted that the provision appeared in a “draft gazette” but is not in the final version. He suggested that some individuals had circulated reports prematurely.
“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 had circulated everywhere. What is out there in the media did not come from the committee set up by the House of Representatives,” he added.
Despite stiff opposition, particularly from Northern lawmakers, President Bola Tinubu signed the four reform bills into law, which the government describes as the most significant overhaul of Nigeria’s tax system in decades.
The new framework includes the Nigeria Tax Act, the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, and the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Act.
The Federal Government maintains these reforms will simplify compliance, expand the tax base, and modernize revenue collection under the new Nigeria Revenue Service.
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