Why Nigeria’s new tax rules are yet to take effect – Oyedele explains
Taiwo Oyedele, chairman of the presidential tax reform committee, says uncertainty over the final, officially gazetted version of Nigeria’s new tax laws has stalled the release of implementation guidelines.
Oyedele spoke on Wednesday in Lagos at the 2026 Economic Outlook organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN).
He said the delay prompted him to advise the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) and the Joint Revenue Board (JRB) to hold off on issuing any guidelines until the legal position is fully settled.
“Our plan in an ideal world was for all these regulations, guidelines, public notices to be ready like three months before December because we wanted people to give their feedback, debate it, finalise and gazette,” he said.
“Well, in our real world, it did not happen like that. And as I speak to you today, we have more than 40 regulations, guidelines and public notices that have been finalised.
“But we can’t release a single one of them because we’re still waiting for what is the final version of the gazette, because the Acts Authentication Act says whatever the government printer publishes is the evidence of the law that was passed.”
Oyedele explained that although the government printer had produced a version of the gazette that circulated publicly as the official text, members of the National Assembly disputed its accuracy.
According to him, lawmakers maintained that the published version “is not what they passed”, leading them to prepare their own versions of the gazette.
“They set up their committee, did their own review, (and) they did their own gazettes. They sent me a soft copy. But that’s not what the Acts Authentication Act says. So I sent my staff, go to the government printer and buy,” he said.
“They went there. As of last week, they said it’s not ready, that they should wait. So I also told everybody — the NRS and JRB — to wait, because we can’t issue guidelines when we are not 100 percent certain that this is the final official position.
“I called my staff this morning, I said go back there, follow up every day. Go there, don’t call them, go and sit down there.”
Oyedele added that his team later received information that once copies were printed, the government printer handed them over to the national assembly following an instruction that they should not be released to the public pending further review.
While describing the move as understandable, he warned that it has added to the uncertainty surrounding the new tax regime.
“That is a good move,” he said, “but it also creates uncertainty”.
He also addressed concerns that the tax laws had been substantially altered, saying the changes being discussed are limited and unlikely to affect core provisions.
Oyedele said the adjustments involve only a few items and do not change “the main thing that people need to know; nothing about the tax rate, the tax body, and the filing deadline”.
