Barring any changes, the House of Representatives is slated to resume legislative activities today. PHILIP NYAM examines some of the issues that will be on the front burner

After the Christmas and New Year holiday, the House of Representatives is due to reconvene in plenary today. Recall that before proceeding on the break, the House had pending issues, which were left unattended to, and with the nation approaching another season of election, the legislators are likely to be under pressure given issues before them

Tax Acts alteration

The first issue that the House is expected to give due attention to on resumption is allegations of alteration of the Tax Reform Acts. A member of the House, Hon. Abdussamad Dasuki (PDP, Sokoto), had in December raised an alarm that the four laws passed by the National Assembly and assented to by President Bola Tinubu were tampered with.

The four laws include, The Nigeria Tax Act, 2025, The Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025, The National Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, 2025 and The Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Act, 2025. Dasuki further alleged that the authorised version in circulation is different from the one passed by the National Assembly.

Consequently, on January 3, the House, through its spokesman, Hon. Akintunde Rotimi, released a statement announcing that the Speaker, Hon. Abbas Tajudeen, has directed the release of the four Tax Reform Acts duly signed into law by the President for public record, verification and reference.

The statement further added that the Speaker also ordered an internal verification and immediate public release of the Certified Acts to eliminate doubts, restore clarity and protect the sanctity of the legislature.

But a new twist has been added to the controversy as an Interim Report of the House of Representatives Minority Caucus Ad-hoc Committee on Tax Laws on the Allegations of Illegal Alterations on the Gazetted Tax Laws, at the weekend, confirmed that the tax laws were actually altered. It is against this backdrop that there is an urgent need for the House to quickly act on the allegations and let Nigerians know what actually happened.

Were the tax laws truly altered as alleged and confirmed by the opposition lawmakers? If it is true, who did it and why? Many Nigerians are also calling for a thorough and subsequent prosecution of those involved in the scandal if it is found out to be true even as all eyes are on the legislature to put to sensitive issue to rest.

2026 budget

Another critical matter that requires the lawmakers’ attention is the 2026 budget proposal, which was presented by President Tinubu in December before a joint session of the National Assembly.

The President had presented a N58.18 trillion Appropriation Bill for 2026, titled “Budget of Consolidation, Renewed Resilience and Shared Prosperity,” which he said, was designed to consolidate recent economic reforms and translate stabilising macroeconomics indicators into improved living standards for Nigerians. 2026 is an election year budget and it is expected that the House will expedite action on its consideration and passage to allow the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ample time to prepare for the 2027 general election.

The belief is that the 2026 budget is critical, considering the fact that the implementation of the 2024 and 2025 budgets was not impressive. In fact, the implementation of the 2025 budget has been extended to the 2026 fiscal year.

There is also hardship in the country and Nigerians believe that part of the problem is the poor implementation of budgets. Funds are often appropriated but budgets are either abandoned or not implemented at all. Again, Nigerians are looking up to the lawmakers to step up their oversight functions to compel the executive to sit up. The earlier the budget is passed, the better it will be for the consolidation of the government’s economic reforms.

Constitution review

The chairman of the House of Representatives ad hoc Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, Hon. Benjamin Kalu, had assured Nigerians that work on the amendment would be completed by December 2025. Unfortunately, this was not to be even as the exercise contains very critical proposals and amendments, which many believe can give credibility, especially to the 2027 general election.

One of the issues begging for urgent attention is the amendment of the Electoral Act 2022, which many stakeholders, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, believe will help strengthen the country’s electoral process. According to Atiku, “the credibility of the 2027 general election hinges on the urgency with which the Senate treats this crucial bill.

It is imperative that the Senate finalizes the amendments and ensures the updated law governs the conduct of the 2027 elections. Anything short of this is a deliberate attempt to rig the election long before the ballots are cast.” There is a proposal for the conclusion of all electoral matters before swearing in of elected officials.

This matter is being pursued, especially by the opposition parties and all eyes are on the lawmakers to see what they can do. There are also proposals that have to do with the timing of the election – the election time table. Some proposed that the election should take place in December, while others are pushing to retain the February and March time table.

While Nigerians are waiting on the lawmakers to vote on these proposals, the House is expected to hit the ground running in working on the Electoral Act. Another critical issue on the constitution review is the proposed reserved seats or special seats for women in the state and national Assembly.

Gender advocates have invested their time, energy and resources, lobbying and campaigning for the inclusion of this in the constitution. While bills in this regard hit the rocks in the previous assemblies, there is hope that it may scale through the hurdle this time given assurances by lawmakers in 10th Assembly, particularly the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Benjamin Kalu.

Insecurity

Nigerians have been critical of the lawmakers for not doing enough in collaborating with the executive to tackle the worsening security situation across the country.

Many are worried that as elected representatives of the people, the lawmakers are yet to resume almost a month after their holiday, while different parts of the country are experiencing heightening insecurity. Just last week, 177 Christian worshippers were kidnapped in Kajuru, Kaduna State.

The incident was initially denied by the police and even the local government chairman of the area, and at the time of filing this report, the victims are still in the hands of the terrorists.

Before embarking on the holiday, the House had earlier constituted a committee to investigate allegations of genocide against Christians in the country as deposed by the United States government. The investigative committee interacted with different bodies including the U.S. Congress. The report of that committee is still being awaited, and it is expected that it would be submitted on the floor of the House on resumption.

The House is also expected to engage with the executive on its strategies to curb insecurity in the country. As have been argued by stakeholders, the nation will have to change its tactics as it seems that the current strategies are inadequate to tackle the terrorism the country is facing.

Probes

Different committees of the House are currently investigating allegations of corrupt practices in Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government. For instance, despite the humongous amounts of money invested in the power sector, electricity supply remains a huge problem.

Some of the probes underway in the House include abandoned Federal Government property across the nation worth N20 trillion. The House is also investigating alleged discrepancies in the 2025 Tax Laws and excessive bank charges imposed on customers.

Similarly, the House had launched an investigation into the usage of security intervention funds since 2020. It is also examining 567 petitions regarding job losses and human rights abuses.

While reports of these and many other investigations are being awaited, developments in the coming weeks will tell whether the lawmakers will live up to expectations of Nigerians.