PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu’s insistence on the implementation of the new tax laws on January 1, 2026, has been generating criticisms from opposition parties, several pressure groups, and other Nigerians amid concerns of unresolved controversies trailing the laws.
In a statement he personally signed on Tuesday, December 30, Tinubu insisted that the laws were not designed to raise taxes, but rather to support a structural reset, drive harmonisation, and protect dignity while strengthening the social contract.
“The new tax laws, including those that took effect on June 26, 2025, and the remaining acts scheduled to commence on January 1, 2026, will continue as planned,” the president said.
“These reforms are a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build a fair, competitive, and robust fiscal foundation for our country.”
He called for support from all Nigerians as the laws would take effect in a few days.
He further said that his administration was aware of the public discourse surrounding alleged changes to some provisions of the recently enacted tax laws.
“No substantial issue has been established that warrants a disruption of the reform process. Absolute trust is built over time through making the right decisions, not through premature, reactive measures,” he stated.
Notably, controversies have continued to trail the new tax laws after a member of the House of Representatives, Abdussamad Dasuki, raised concerns about what he described as discrepancies between what was passed by the National Assembly and the versions subsequently gazetted and made available to the public.
Dasuki argued that 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.
His comment led to calls for the suspension of the laws.
Opposition leaders like Peter Obi, Atiku Abubakar, and pressure groups like the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) have criticised the alleged alteration, asking the Federal Government to halt the implementation of the laws.
A tax expert and Public Sector Analyst, Emeka Okoroeze, believes that the issue that stirred the controversy in the tax law has not been sufficiently addressed by the National Assembly and the Federal Government.
“I believe the right thing should have been to suspend implementation, investigate the unlawful insertion and prosecute the perpetrators. Then reconcile the different versions to get a clean copy that will be regazetted. This way, the legitimacy and integrity of the Act will be restored as well as the people’s confidence,” Okoroeze stated.
In a similar submission, the Lead Director for the Centre for Social Justice, Eze Onyekpere, told The ICIR that the tax law was becoming a fiscal governance architecture based on forgery.
‘Evidently, we have a supine and rubber-stamp legislature that cannot stand up to assert its constitutional mandate of law-making in the face of a rampaging executive.
“Prima facie, the enactment passed by the legislature is different from what is in the public domain as law. The simplest way of showing that there was an alteration or that the documents are the same is to upload the NASS harmonised copy to the website of NASS. No committee or panel is needed. Literate Nigerians can compare and contrast the two documents,” he added.
He further stressed that no citizen was under an obligation to obey a purported law that was not the product of due process. “Nigerians have a right to resist forgery,” he said.
Tinubu signed the four tax reform bills into law in June, marking what the government described as the most significant overhaul of the country’s tax system in decades.
The laws include the Nigeria Tax Act, the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, and the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Act, all operating under a single authority, the Nigeria Revenue Service.
The tax reform bills faced initial stiff opposition from lawmakers and key figures before their passage.
Harrison Edeh is a journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, always determined to drive advocacy for good governance through holding public officials and businesses accountable.