National Assembly’s certified copies expose unlawful tampering with Nigeria’s amended Tax Laws

Concerns previously raised over discrepancies between Nigeria’s newly gazetted tax reform laws and the versions passed by the National Assembly have now been reinforced by the release of Certified True Copies (CTCs) by the National Assembly.

The CTCs set out in clear terms the provisions approved by lawmakers and provide authoritative documentary evidence of what was transmitted for presidential assent.

The House of Representatives had on Saturday, released the CTCs of four tax reform Acts recently signed into law by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, following public concerns over alleged alterations and the circulation of unauthorised versions of the laws.

The four Acts released are the Nigeria Tax Act, 2025; Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025; National Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, 2025; and Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Act, 2025.

House spokesman, Akin Rotimi, who disclosed this in a statement, said the re ease was ordered by the Speaker of the House and Senate Presi- dent, Godswill Akpabio.

He said the decision followed reports that multiple and conflicting versions of the tax laws were in circulation.

A member of the House of Representatives, Abdulsamad Dasuki, had during a plenary session alleged discrepancies between tax laws passed by the National Assembly and the versions subsequently gazetted and made available to the public.

He said his legislative rights had been breached because the content of the gazetted tax laws did not reflect what lawmakers debated and approved on the floor of the House.

The tax bills were passed by the House in February after months of debates, public hearings, and clause-by-clause consideration, and were later harmonised with the version passed by the Senate.

On 26 June, President Bola Tinubu signed the four bills into law.

According to Rotimi, the issue came to light after a member of the House raised a point of privilege over discrepancies noticed in some versions of the Acts.

He said the Speaker subsequently directed an internal verification and the immediate public release of the certified documents.

A review by The Guardian of the certified copies alongside the said gazetted Acts shows that several controversial provisions currently in force were not contained in the bills passed by the House, lending weight to earlier claims of post-passage alterations.

One of the major areas highlighted by the CTCs is Section 3 of the Nigeria Tax Administration Act.

The NASS-passed version explicitly assigns the Nigeria Revenue Service responsibility for administering key federal taxes, including taxation of income from petroleum operations and Value Added Tax (VAT).