Again, Reps accuse Tinubu Administration of altering new tax laws, say three versions in circulation

 

 

Maureen Aguta

 

Victor Afam Ogene, spokesman of the House Minority Caucus, which initially unveiled the discovery of “illegal” alterations in the gazetted copies of the tax reform laws, on ARISE NEWS Television last night, told his host that there were actually three versions of the document as a result of the decision of some people in the executive branch of government to tamper with the clean copy passed by the National Assembly.

 

He said: “You can easily point to overzealousness by some officials on the executive side, which in summary you could tag as executive rascality. A lot of times people think that when you bring executive bills, the bills should return to you as was sent.

 

“Then we should simply be – I don’t want to use rubberstamp – we cannot be garbage in garbage out. That is why 360 of us sit in that assembly, and there are processes in law-making – first reading – second reading – public hearings – then it comes back to the committee of the whole and then harmonisation between the House and the Senate and then the Clerk of the House prepares a clean-copy that is sent to the President.

 

“In doing so, ensure that it is what is passed by the National Assembly. This tax law went through all these processes. It is the duty of the executive to publish the gazzetted law. The Nigerian Printing Press is under the Federal Ministry of Information. So, it is their remit to publish the laws.”

 

Ogene, Chairman of the seven-member committee set up by the caucus to probe the alleged alterations, had initially raised the alarm about the alteration while submitting the interim report based on an initial signal by Abdussamad Dasuki, a member of the House on December 17, last year to that effect.

 

On December 17, Abdussamad Dasuki, a member of the lower legislative chamber, alleged that there are differences between the tax laws passed by parliament and the gazetted copy available to the public.

 

The alleged alteration sparked public outrage, with some Nigerians calling for a suspension of the implementation of the laws.

 

On December 16, the leadership of the senate and house of representatives directed Kamoru Ogunlana, clerk of the national assembly, to work with relevant agencies in the executive branch in a bid to re-gazette the tax laws.

 

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

 

On January 3, the green chamber released the gazetted copy of the tax laws for public scrutiny.

 

‘Illegal Alterations’

 

Ogene said the directive of the leadership of the red and green chambers to the clerk to “take steps to align” the Acts passed by the parliament with the federal government printing press to ensure accuracy, conformity, and uniformity is a “clear indication that there were some procedural anomalies in the previously gazetted version that illegally encroached on the core mandate of the national assembly”.

 

The lawmaker said Kingsley Chinda, minority leader of the house, constituted a committee on January 2 to thoroughly investigate the “scandal.”

 

He said the committee comprises lawmakers from the six geopolitical zones — Aliyu Garu (Bauchi), Stanley Adedeji (Oyo), Ibe Osonwa (Abia), Marie Ebikake (Bayelsa), Shehu Fagge (Kano), and Gaza Jonathan (Nasarawa).

 

Ogene said preliminary findings, based on a comparison of the certified true copies (CTCs) released by the house and the gazetted copies, indicated that the laws were altered.

 

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

 

“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. These discrepancies are obvious, going by the released Certified True Copies (CTCs) by the House referenced earlier.”

 

He said under section 29(1), the version certified by the national assembly set the tax compliance reporting threshold at N50 million for individuals and N100 million for companies, but the gazetted copy lowered the threshold for individuals to N25 million and altered the threshold for companies.

 

“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,” the legislator said.

 

In section 41, Ogene said the gazetted version introduced new subsections 41(8) and 41(9), which require taxpayers to deposit 20 percent of the disputed tax amount as a condition for appealing decisions of the tax appeal tribunal to the high court.

 

Ogene said the provisions were not included in the version passed by the national assembly.

 

He said in section 64, the gazetted law “illegally increased the powers of the tax authority to include the power to arrest individuals suspected of tax violations through law enforcement agencies, and allowed for the sale of seized assets without a court order”.

 

Ogene said in section 3(1)(b), the version certified by the national assembly defined federal taxes to include income tax, petroleum income tax, stamp duties, and VAT, but the gazetted copy removed petroleum income tax and VAT from the definition of taxes administered by the federal government.

 

“We consider this an affront to the exclusive powers of the national assembly to make laws,” he said.

 

The lawmaker said section 39(3) of the gazetted law was “illegally altered” to mandate that tax computations for petroleum operations be carried out in US dollars, contrary to the version passed by the national assembly, which provided that tax calculations be done in the currency of the transaction.

 

In sections 30(1)(d) and 30(3) of the National Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, Ogene said the version passed by the national assembly empowered lawmakers to summon officials, demand reports, and enforce accountability in line with their constitutional oversight role.

 

The lawmaker said the gazetted version deleted the provisions requiring quarterly and annual reports to parliament, describing it as a disregard for the national assembly and the doctrine of 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.

 

“This will ensure accountability for the affront against the legislature. To achieve this, the Committee respectfully requests an extension to conduct a more thorough examination of the matter.”