The Minority Caucus of the House of Representatives has called on the Federal Government to suspend the implementation of the newly passed tax reform laws amid allegations that the versions gazetted differ from what was approved by the National Assembly.
The new tax laws, which are scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2026, have been surrounded by controversy following claims of unlawful alterations. The issue gained attention after the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, insisted last week that the implementation date remained unchanged.
Oyedele maintained that the reforms were designed to ease the tax burden on Nigerians, noting that most workers would either pay reduced Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax or none at all. He added that a large percentage of small businesses would be exempted from Corporate Income Tax, Value Added Tax (VAT), and Withholding Tax, while large companies would also benefit from reduced tax rates.
Despite this assurance, the House Minority Caucus, in a statement jointly signed by Minority Leader O.K. Chinda and other principal officers, urged the government to halt implementation until investigations into the alleged alterations are concluded.
The lawmakers stressed that Nigerians and the business community deserve access to the authentic versions of the laws they are expected to obey, insisting that only documents duly certified by the Clerk to the National Assembly and signed by the President are valid.
They assured Nigerians that the House would thoroughly investigate the allegations, following the inauguration of a special committee to probe claims that the tax laws were fraudulently altered before being gazetted and circulated.
The caucus warned Nigerians to disregard any tax laws in circulation that do not bear the appropriate certifications, describing any attempt to impose fake laws as an attack on the constitutional role and independence of the National Assembly.
The controversy was first raised by a lawmaker, Abdussamad Dasuki, who alleged discrepancies between the laws debated and passed by lawmakers and those later made public. He argued that legislators had not been provided with the certified harmonised copies needed to verify the authenticity of the gazetted versions.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu recently signed four tax reform bills into law, marking what the Federal Government described as a major overhaul of Nigeria’s tax system. The laws include the Nigeria Tax Act, Nigeria Tax Administration Act, Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, and the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Act, all to be administered under the Nigeria Revenue Service.
