Fresh evidence has emerged to substantiate earlier concerns regarding alleged modifications to Nigeria's recently enacted tax reform legislation. The National Assembly has released Certified True Copies (CTCs) of the laws it passed, providing an authoritative benchmark that starkly contrasts with the versions currently in force after presidential assent and gazetting.
Discrepancies Validated by Official Documents
The House of Representatives, on Saturday, made public the CTCs of four pivotal tax Acts signed into law by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. This action, directed by the Speaker of the House and Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, came in response to mounting public alarm over circulating conflicting versions and direct allegations from legislators. The four Acts in question 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.
House spokesman, Akin Rotimi, confirmed the release followed a point of privilege raised by a member, Abdulsamad Dasuki, who alleged that the gazetted laws did not reflect what was debated and approved on the floor of the House. The bills had undergone months of rigorous process, including debates and public hearings, before being passed in February and later harmonised with the Senate's version. President Tinubu signed them into law on 26 June, 2025.
Key Areas of Alteration Revealed
A side-by-side review of the CTCs and the gazetted Acts confirms several critical and controversial changes. These are not minor edits but substantive shifts in policy and administration that were not part of the legislature's approved text.
In the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, Section 3 as passed by the National Assembly explicitly tasked the Nigeria Revenue Service with administering taxes on petroleum operations and Value Added Tax (VAT). These crucial items are absent from the gazetted version, raising questions about a deliberate narrowing of federal tax authority.
Section 29, governing financial disclosures, was significantly altered. The NASS version mandated annual returns with thresholds of N50 million for individuals and N250 million for corporate entities, alongside specific procedural safeguards. The gazetted Act imposes quarterly reporting, slashes thresholds to N25 million and N100 million respectively, and strips away key notice-based protections for taxpayers.
Perhaps the most glaring insertion is found in Sections 41(8) and 41(9), which are entirely absent from the House-passed CTC. The gazetted law introduces a requirement for taxpayers to deposit 20 per cent of a disputed tax amount before appealing to the High Court, a potentially prohibitive barrier to justice.
Furthermore, enforcement powers were expanded post-passage. While the legislative text in Sections 60 and 64 confined tax authorities to investigation and required court orders for certain actions, the gazetted version introduces arrest powers not authorised by lawmakers.
Erosion of Legislative Oversight and Accountability
The discrepancies extend beyond tax administration into governance and accountability. In the National Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, provisions mandating quarterly and annual reports to the National Assembly and empowering lawmakers to summon the Executive Chairman were removed from the gazetted version. Broader strategic reporting duties assigned to the Chairman in the NASS version were also excised.
Similar dilutions of legislative control appear in the Joint Revenue Board Act, where requirements for specific board authorisation were replaced with vague language, and defined funding sources were altered.
Public Reaction and Democratic Concerns
The release of the CTCs has fueled accusations of executive overreach. Jamilu Charanchi, Coordinator of the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG), told The Guardian that the controversy stems from a "deliberate policy choice by the presidency." He argued that President Tinubu is implementing a law fundamentally different from what the National Assembly approved and what Nigerians, through their representatives, agreed upon.
"That means President Tinubu is implementing something that is entirely different from what Nigeria agreed on," Charanchi stated, warning that such actions deepen public distrust and weaken democratic institutions. He urged the National Assembly to assert its constitutional role and ensure only the version it duly passed is implemented.
The certified documents now provide irrefutable documentary evidence, shifting the debate from allegation to confirmed divergence, and placing the onus on both the executive and legislature to address the integrity of the legislative process.
