The Minority Caucus of the House of Representatives’ Ad-hoc Committee investigating alleged alterations to Nigeria’s tax reform laws has confirmed that illegal changes were made to some of the legislation passed by the National Assembly and assented to by President Bola Tinubu.
The Committee, which spoke on Friday in an interim report on discrepancies between the versions of the tax laws passed by lawmakers and those published in the official gazette, identified the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025, as the law most affected by the alterations.
New Telegraph reports that the probe followed public concern raised by a member of the House, Abdulsamad Dasuki, who alerted lawmakers to the circulation of versions of the tax laws that differed from what was approved by the National Assembly.
In response, the Minority Caucus, in a statement issued on December 28, 2025, pledged to “Unconditionally protect the independence of the legislature and our democracy,” warning that attempts to impose altered laws on Nigerians amounted to an attack on the constitutional authority of parliament.
To investigate the claims, the caucus, led by Kingsley Chinda, on January 2, 2026, constituted a seven-member fact-finding committee chaired by Victor Ogene, with Aliyu Garu, Stanley Adedeji, Ibe Osonwa, Marie Ebikake, Shehu Fagge, and Gaza Gbefwi Jonathan as members.
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Meanwhile, on January 3, 2026, the House, through its spokesman Akin Rotimi, announced that Speaker Tajudeen Abbas had directed the release of certified copies of the four tax reform Acts signed into law for public scrutiny.
The Acts include the Nigeria Tax Act, 2025; Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025; National Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, 2025; and Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Act, 2025.
In its preliminary findings, signed by Ogene, the committee said a comparison of the certified true copies with the gazetted versions already in circulation confirmed the allegations.
The committee stated, “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.”
It further described the directive to “align” the Acts with the Federal Government Printing Press as “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 discrepancies, the committee noted that Section 29(1) on reporting thresholds was altered.
While the version passed by lawmakers set thresholds at ₦50 million for individuals and ₦100 million for companies, the gazetted version reduced the individual threshold to ₦25 million instead of ₦250 million, describing it as: “A clear case of the executive undermining legislative powers by illegally altering an already passed law to drag more taxpayers into the net.”
The committee also faulted the insertion of new subsections 41(8) and 41(9) in the gazetted Act, which imposed a mandatory 20 per cent deposit of disputed tax sums before appeals could be filed at the High Court, noting that “these sections were not in the authentic version passed by the National Assembly.”
It further observed that Section 64 of the gazetted law unlawfully expanded the enforcement powers of tax authorities to include arrests and the sale of seized assets without court orders.
According to the report, the altered version of Section 3(1)(b) removed petroleum income tax and VAT from the list of federal taxes, an action the committee described as “an affront to the exclusive powers of the National Assembly to make laws.”
The committee also pointed out that Section 39(3) of the gazetted Act mandated tax computation for petroleum operations in US dollars, contrary to the version approved by lawmakers, which prescribed computation “in the currency of the transaction.”
Concerns were equally raised over the Nigerian Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, where Sections 30(1)(d) and 30(3) relating to National Assembly oversight were allegedly deleted.
According to the committee, the original Act provided for legislative oversight through summons, reporting and accountability mechanisms, but the altered version removed requirements for quarterly and annual reports to parliament, “in total disregard and disrespect of the institution of the National Assembly and the doctrine of checks and balances.”
Describing the findings as evidence of “anomalies, illegalities and impunity” capable of undermining democracy and constitutional order, the committee said further investigation was necessary.
It therefore requested additional time to carry out a comprehensive probe, while thanking the Minority Caucus leadership “for finding us worthy of the assignment.”
