The Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, has rejected claims that Nigeria’s newly enacted tax reform laws were altered after being passed by the National Assembly.
Oyedele spoke amid growing controversy over the four tax reform laws signed by President Bola Tinubu, which are scheduled to take effect from January 1, 2026.
Civil society groups and some lawmakers have called for an independent probe into alleged discrepancies between the bills approved by lawmakers and the versions later gazetted.
Opposition figures, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, have also urged the Federal Government to suspend implementation pending clarification.
The controversy was triggered last week when a member of the House of Representatives, Abdulsamad Dasuki, raised concerns over what he described as differences between the bills debated and passed by the National Assembly and those published in the official gazette.
Dasuki argued that any such discrepancy would amount to a violation of lawmakers’ legislative authority, insisting that the gazetted laws did not reflect what was approved on the floor of the House.
However, speaking on Channels Television’s Morning Brief on Monday, Oyedele dismissed the allegations, saying there was no credible basis for claims that the laws were altered.
“Before you can say there is a difference between what was gazetted and what was passed, you must have what was passed,” Oyedele said.
“We do not have the official harmonised bills certified by the clerk of the National Assembly that were sent to the President.”
He added that only the National Assembly could authoritatively confirm what was transmitted to the President for assent.
“It should be the harmonised version certified by the clerk. Even I cannot say that I have it. What I have is what was presented to Mr President to sign,” he stated.
Addressing concerns around a controversial provision, Section 41(8), which allegedly required a 20 per cent deposit, Oyedele said the matter had been misunderstood.
“I know that particular provision is not in the final gazette, but it was in the draft gazette,” he explained.
“Some people went ahead to circulate reports before the committee of the House of Representatives even met on the issue.”
According to him, the committee later confirmed that it had not concluded deliberations on the matter at the time the reports emerged.
“What is circulating in the media did not come from the committee set up by the House. I think we should allow the House of Representatives to carry out its investigation,” Oyedele said.
President Tinubu recently signed four tax reform bills into law—the Nigeria Tax Act, the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, and the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Act. The laws are designed to operate under a unified authority, the Nigeria Revenue Service.
The Federal Government has described the reforms as the most comprehensive overhaul of Nigeria’s tax system in decades, aimed at simplifying compliance, broadening the tax base, eliminating multiple taxation, and modernising revenue collection across federal, state and local governments.
