House minority caucus alleges ‘illegal’ alterations in gazetted tax reform laws
The minority caucus of the house of representatives says it has uncovered “illegal” changes in the gazetted versions of Nigeria’s tax reform laws, following a comparison with the copies passed by the national assembly.
In a statement on Friday, Afam Ogene, who chairs a seven-member investigative committee set up by the caucus, said the probe revealed that different versions of the laws were in circulation.
The controversy began after Abdussamad Dasuki, a lawmaker, alleged on December 17 that the tax reform bills passed by parliament were not identical to the versions published in the official gazette. The claims sparked public backlash, with calls for the suspension of the laws’ implementation.
Earlier, on December 16, the leadership of the senate and the house of representatives had directed Kamoru Ogunlana, clerk of the national assembly, to work with relevant executive agencies to re-gazette the laws. The affected legislation includes the Nigeria Tax Act, 2025; Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025; Joint Revenue Board of Nigeria (Establishment) Act, 2025; and Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, 2025. Certified true copies were later released by the house on January 3.
Ogene said the decision by the leadership of the red and green chambers to instruct the clerk to “take steps to align” the Acts with the federal government printing press showed that “there were some procedural anomalies in the previously gazetted version that illegally encroached on the core mandate of the national assembly”.
He said the minority leader, Kingsley Chinda, constituted the committee on January 2 to investigate what he described as a “scandal”, drawing members from the six geopolitical zones.
According to Ogene, preliminary findings based on a review of the certified true copies and the gazetted documents pointed to multiple alterations, particularly in the Nigeria Tax Administration Act (NTAA), 2025.
“There were three different versions of the documents in circulation, particularly the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025,” he said.
“The Nigeria Tax Administration Act (NTAA), 2025, has a number of discrepancies from the version passed by the National Assembly and the version earlier published in the official gazette.”
He said section 29(1) of the NTAA was altered to reduce the tax compliance reporting threshold for individuals from N50 million to N25 million, while the threshold for companies was also changed.
“This is a clear case of the executive undermining legislative powers by illegally altering an already passed law to drag more taxpayers into the net,” Ogene said.
He further alleged that the gazetted version inserted new provisions under section 41 requiring taxpayers to pay 20 percent of disputed tax sums before appealing decisions of the tax appeal tribunal — clauses he said were absent from the version approved by parliament.
Ogene also accused the gazetted law of expanding the powers of tax authorities under section 64 to allow arrests and the sale of seized assets without a court order.
In addition, he said section 3(1)(b) was modified to remove petroleum income tax and VAT from the list of federal taxes, calling it “an affront to the exclusive powers of the national assembly to make laws”.
He added that section 39(3) was changed to mandate tax computations for petroleum operations in US dollars, contrary to the assembly-approved provision that allowed calculations in the currency of the transaction.
On the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, Ogene said clauses empowering the national assembly to demand reports and enforce oversight were removed in the gazetted version, describing the move as a breach of constitutional checks and balances.
“Given the anomalies, illegalities, and impunity observed, which clearly undermine the national assembly’s constitutional powers and democracy, the committee finds the current evidence sufficient to warrant a deeper investigation,” Ogene said, adding that the committee has requested more time to deepen its probe.
