The House of Representatives has confirmed alarming discrepancies in Nigeria’s newly gazetted tax reform laws, raising questions about executive interference in legislation.
An ad-hoc committee of the House Minority Caucus, set up to probe allegations of tampering, reported that several provisions in the recently signed tax laws differ from the versions approved by the National Assembly.
The findings were detailed in an interim report released on Friday.
The panel, chaired by Victor Ogene, identified the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025 as the law most affected by unauthorized alterations.
A side-by-side review revealed three different versions of the Act circulating, with notable changes to thresholds, enforcement powers, and appeal procedures.
Among the discrepancies, Section 29(1) of the Tax Administration Act, which originally set reporting thresholds at N50 million for individuals and N100 million for companies, was lowered to N25 million for individuals in the gazetted version—a move the committee described as an attempt to broaden the tax net without legislative approval.
New subsections 41(8) and 41(9), absent in the original law, now require a 20 percent deposit of disputed tax liabilities before appeals can proceed to the High Court.
The committee also highlighted Section 64, which grants tax authorities powers to arrest and seize assets without court approval, and modifications to Section 3(1)(b) and 39(3), which reportedly removed petroleum income tax and VAT from federal tax definitions and mandated tax calculations in U.S. dollars instead of the transaction currency.
The probe was triggered by a motion from Abdulsamad Dasuki, who raised concerns that the publicly circulated laws differed from what legislators had passed.
In response, the Minority Caucus, led by Kingsley Chinda, formed the seven-member fact-finding committee on January 2, 2026, to investigate the claims.
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The panel also scrutinized the Nigerian Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, noting the deletion of Sections 30(1)(d) and 30(3) in the gazetted version, provisions that previously ensured National Assembly oversight.
According to the committee, the omissions undermine legislative accountability and weaken the checks and balances vital to Nigeria’s democracy.
Following the allegations, Speaker Tajudeen Abbas ordered the release of certified copies of the four tax reform Acts—the Nigeria Tax Act, 2025; Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025; National Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, 2025; and Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Act, 2025—to allow for public scrutiny.
The committee concluded that the irregularities uncovered so far justify a deeper investigation, warning that circulation of “fake laws” threatens the autonomy of the legislature and the integrity of Nigeria’s democratic process.