The Presidency has denied the alleged alterations of the tax bill passed by both chambers of the National Assembly.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Idris Mohammed, urged the general public to wait for the outcome of the findings of the investigation committee of the National Assembly.
Mr. Abdulsammad Dasuki (PDP, Sokoto) alleged, last week, that the gazetted version of the tax laws is different from what lawmakers debated and approved, prompting the House of Representatives to set up a seven-man committee to investigate the matter and report back.
Amid pressure and public outrage, the House of Representatives will sit today to debate the issue.
The Senate will also sit to deliberate on constitution amendment among other issues.
Reacting to the allegation by lawmakers that the tax laws President Bola Tinubu signed into law differed from what the National Assembly passed, Idris said the matter was firmly within the legislature’s domain.
“To be honest with you, I have not seen the two versions. What I know is that the executive presented a document, it was processed by the National Assembly, passed, returned and signed. If the National Assembly has identified discrepancies and has set up a committee, we should allow that process to run,”he said.
“there is only one version of the tax document,” adding that any further clarification will come after the lawmakers conclude their review.
The minister’s submission was also echoed, by the Chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Taiwo Oyedele.
Oyedele urged the National Assembly to investigate alleged discrepancies in the gazetted versions of the laws.
Oyedele was on Channels Television’s programme amid growing calls for suspension of implementation of the tax laws by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Peter Obi of the Labour Party, and several civil society organisations.
He dismissed the allegation, insisting “Before you can say there is a difference between what was gazetted and what was passed, we don’t even have what was passed. 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 they sent.”
Oyedele also addressed concerns surrounding a controversial provision in Section 41(8), which reportedly required a 20 per cent deposit, saying he reached out to the relevant House committee for clarification.
“I know that particular provision is not in the final gazette, but it was in the draft gazette,” he said, adding that some documents circulating publicly were prepared before the committee had concluded its work.
“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 said.
President Tinubu recently signed four major tax reform bills into law, describing them as the most significant overhaul of Nigeria’s tax system in decades. The laws — the Nigeria Tax Act, Nigeria Tax Administration Act, Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, and Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Act — are scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2026.
