The Minority Caucus of the House of Representatives has called on the Federal Government to suspend the implementation of Nigeria’s newly enacted tax laws amid allegations that the versions gazetted and circulated to the public were unlawfully altered.
The call followed comments by the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, who last week insisted that the commencement date for the Nigerian Tax Act and the Nigerian Tax Administration Act remains “sacrosanct.”
“The plan to commence the new laws will go ahead as planned on schedule because these reforms are designed to provide relief to the Nigerian people,” Oyedele said after a meeting attended by the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr Zacchaeus Adedeji, and the Chairman of the National Tax Policy Implementation Committee, Mr Joseph Tegbe.
According to Oyedele, the reforms would significantly ease the tax burden on citizens and businesses. “The bottom 98 per cent of workers will see either no Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax or lower taxes to be paid. About 97 per cent of small businesses will be exempted from Corporate Income Tax, Value Added Tax (VAT) and Withholding Tax, while large businesses will see a drop in the taxes that they pay,” he said.
“The whole idea is to promote economic growth, inclusivity and shared prosperity for our people,” Oyedele added, while also welcoming the National Assembly’s decision to probe allegations of alterations to the laws. He said the Federal Government was ready to work with lawmakers, including opposition figures, to address public concerns.
However, in a statement jointly signed by Minority Leader Rep. O.K. Chinda; Minority Whip, Rt. Hon. Ali Isa J.C.; Deputy Minority Leader, Rt. Hon. Aliyu Madaki; and Deputy Minority Whip, Rt. Hon. George Ozodinobi, the caucus urged the government to halt implementation pending the outcome of ongoing investigations.
“We call on the government to suspend the implementation of the tax laws until investigations are concluded and there is clarity and certainty on the law to be implemented,” the statement read.
The lawmakers stressed that Nigerians and the business community are entitled to access the authentic versions of laws “they are expected to obey,” assuring that the Minority Caucus would ensure all alleged illegalities in the gazetted tax laws are addressed in the national interest.
The caucus said it viewed with “great consternation and disappointment” the controversy surrounding the tax reform laws, noting that the allegations of unlawful alterations were too serious to ignore.
“We are aware that a member of the House raised this issue during plenary, leading to the inauguration of a high-powered committee to investigate allegations that the tax laws were fraudulently altered, gazetted and circulated to the public,” the statement said.
The Minority Caucus emphasized that the National Assembly remains the custodian of genuine copies of all laws passed and transmitted by the Clerk to the National Assembly (CNA) for gazetting. It urged Nigerians to disregard any purported tax laws lacking the signatures of the CNA and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“Any attempt to foist fake laws on Nigerians is an attack on the independence and constitutional role of the National Assembly in safeguarding our democracy,” the caucus warned.
The controversy intensified after Rep. Abdussamad Dasuki raised concerns over what he described as discrepancies between the tax laws passed by lawmakers and the versions later gazetted.
“Before you can say there is a difference between what was gazetted and what was passed, we don’t have what was passed,” Dasuki said, arguing that lawmakers lacked access to the certified harmonised copies sent to the President.
President Tinubu recently signed four tax reform bills into law—the Nigeria Tax Act, Nigeria Tax Administration Act, Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, and Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Act described by the government as the most significant overhaul of Nigeria’s tax system in decades. The laws are scheduled to take effect by next year.
