By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

The House of Representatives has confirmed that there is an illegal alteration of Nigeria’s newly gazetted tax reform laws.

The House Minority Caucus Ad-hoc Committee probing alleged alteration of the tax reform laws reported evidence of unauthorized changes to some of the tax reform laws recently passed by the National Assembly and signed into law by President Bola Tinubu.

In an interim report released on Friday, the committee said its findings showed clear discrepancies between the versions of the tax laws approved by lawmakers and those later published in the official gazette.

According to the panel, the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025, contained the most significant alterations.

The probe followed public concern triggered by a motion raised on the floor of the House by Abdulsamad Dasuki, who warned that versions of the tax laws in circulation differed from what legislators had approved.

In response, the Minority Caucus, in a statement issued on December 28, 2025, pledged to safeguard the autonomy of the legislature and cautioned that the circulation of “fake laws” posed a direct threat to constitutional democracy.

Acting on that commitment, the caucus, under the leadership of Kingsley Chinda, set up a seven-member fact-finding committee on January 2, 2026.

The panel is chaired by Victor Ogene, with members Aliyu Garu (Bauchi), Stanley Adedeji (Oyo), Ibe Osonwa (Abia), Marie Ebikake (Bayelsa), Shehu Fagge (Kano), and Gaza Gbefwi Jonathan (Nasarawa).

A day later, the House, through its spokesman Akin Rotimi, announced that Speaker Tajudeen Abbas had ordered the release of certified copies of the four tax reform Acts signed by the President to enable public scrutiny.

The laws are the Nigeria Tax Act, 2025; Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025; National Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, 2025; and the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Act, 2025.

The committee, in its preliminary assessment, said that a side-by-side review of the certified copies and the gazetted documents confirmed Dasuki’s claims.

“There were some alterations as alleged, especially in the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025.

“There were three different versions of the documents in circulation, particularly the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025,” the committee stated.

The report, signed by Ogene, noted that multiple versions of the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025, were in circulation, raising questions about the integrity of the legislative process.

The panel argued that instructions to “align” the Acts with the Federal Government Printing Press suggested serious procedural lapses.

The committee added that the published version of the laws unlawfully intruded into the constitutional authority of the National Assembly.

According to the committee, there was “a clear indication that there were procedural anomalies in the previously gazetted version that illegally encroached on the core mandate of the National Assembly.”

Highlighting specific concerns, the committee said Section 29(1) on reporting thresholds had been altered.

While the version passed by lawmakers set thresholds at N50 million for individuals and N100 million for companies, the gazetted text reportedly reduced the individual threshold to N25 million, a move the committee described as an attempt to widen the tax net through executive interference.

The committee also criticised the insertion of new subsections 41(8) and 41(9), which mandate a 20 per cent deposit of disputed tax liabilities before appeals can be taken from the Tax Appeal Tribunal to the High Court.

The committee noted that these provisions were absent from the version approved by the legislature.

According to the report, Section 64 of the gazetted Act further expanded the enforcement powers of tax authorities, allowing arrests through law enforcement agencies and the sale of seized assets without court authorisation, powers not contained in the original Act.

The committee also flagged changes to Section 3(1)(b), where petroleum income tax and VAT were reportedly removed from the definition of federal taxes, and to Section 39(3), which now mandates tax computation for petroleum operations in U.S. dollars rather than “the currency of the transaction,” as originally passed.

Beyond the Tax Administration Act, the panel raised alarms over the Nigerian Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, saying provisions on National Assembly oversight, particularly Sections 30(1)(d) and 30(3), were deleted in the gazetted version.

The committee said these omissions stripped the legislature of mechanisms for summons, reporting, and accountability, undermining the principle of checks and balances.

The House is expected to deliberate on the interim findings and consider further actions to rectify the published laws and prevent future alterations.