The Minority Caucus of the House of Representatives has raised serious concerns over alleged illegal alterations to recently gazetted tax laws, warning that the discrepancies amount to an attack on the constitutional authority and independence of the National Assembly.
In an interim report dated January 23, 2026, the Minority Caucus Ad-hoc Committee on Tax Laws said its preliminary findings confirmed that some provisions of the tax reform Acts assented to by the President were materially different from the versions passed by the National Assembly.
The controversy followed public outrage after Hon. Abdulsamad Dasuki alerted the House to the circulation of an “authorised” gazetted version of the tax laws that differed from what lawmakers approved. In response, the Minority Caucus had vowed on December 28, 2025, to protect the legislature and Nigeria’s democracy from what it described as attempts to foist “fake laws” on the public.
To investigate the matter, the Minority Caucus, led by Rt. Hon. Kingsley Chinda, constituted a seven-member fact-finding committee on January 2, 2026, chaired by Hon. Afam Victor Ogene.
A day later, the House of Representatives, through its spokesman Rep. Akintunde Rotimi, announced that Speaker Rt. Hon. Abbas Tajudeen had ordered the public release of the four tax reform Acts duly passed and signed into law. The Speaker also directed an internal verification process to “eliminate doubts, restore clarity, and protect the sanctity of the legislature.”
The Acts released include the Nigeria Tax Act, 2025; Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025; National Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, 2025; and the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Act, 2025.
According to the committee, a comparison of the Certified True Copies (CTCs) released by the House with the earlier gazetted versions revealed that multiple versions of the laws were in circulation, particularly the Nigeria Tax Administration Act (NTAA), 2025. The committee described the directive to “align” the Acts with the Federal Government Printing Press as evidence of serious procedural anomalies that encroached on the lawmaking powers of the National Assembly.
The report highlighted several contentious alterations, including changes to tax reporting thresholds, the insertion of new provisions mandating a 20 per cent deposit before tax appeals, expanded enforcement and arrest powers for tax authorities, and changes to the definition of federal taxes. It also flagged an alteration mandating tax computation for petroleum operations in US dollars, contrary to the version passed by lawmakers, which prescribed computation in the currency of the transaction.
In addition, the committee said the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, 2025 was altered to remove provisions granting the National Assembly oversight powers, including requirements for quarterly and annual reports to parliament.
Describing the developments as illegal and an affront to democratic checks and balances, the committee said the evidence so far justified a more comprehensive investigation. It therefore requested an extension of time to conduct a deeper probe to ensure accountability.
The interim report was signed by the committee chairman, Hon. Afam Victor Ogene, who thanked the Minority Caucus leadership for the opportunity to serve.