Akpabio speaks on alleged discrepancies in tax laws

The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has dismissed claims that the newly enacted tax laws contain discrepancies, describing the allegations as misleading.

Mr Akpabio said the gazetted versions of the laws fully comply with the resolutions reached by lawmakers during the clause-by-clause consideration of the bills.

He stated this during Wednesday’s plenary session of the upper chamber of the National Assembly.

He, thereaftet, directed the Clerk of the Senate, Emmanuel Odo, to circulate copies of both the Acts passed by the National Assembly and the gazetted versions to senators for review.

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“Copies of the Acts will be made available to all senators by the Clerk of the Senate. The copies of the Acts are totally in compliance with what happened in the two chambers. No adulteration, nothing,” he said.

The Senate president urged lawmakers to challenge the National Assembly if, after careful examination, they discovered any discrepancy between the versions.

“So, I mean, at this stage now, you can feel bold enough to discard anything that is to the contrary, knowing that it is not what the president signed and it does not represent what you passed,” he added.

The controversy over alleged discrepancies in the tax reform laws began shortly before lawmakers proceeded on the Christmas and New Year recess. A member of the House of Representatives, Abdulsamad Dasuki (PDP, Sokoto), had alleged differences between the tax laws passed by the National Assembly and the versions gazetted and released to the public by the federal government.

The Acts in question are 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, all of which came into force on 1 January.

The House could not resolve the matter at the time and instead constituted a seven-member ad hoc committee to investigate it.

The committee has yet to submit its report.

In addition, the House minority caucus, led by the Minority Leader, Kingsley Chinda, set up a separate committee to review the laws. The committee, which submitted its report last week, claimed to have identified discrepancies between the Acts passed by the legislature and those gazetted by the government.

However, the House, through its spokesperson, Akin Rotimi, rejected the caucus report, insisting that the official ad hoc committee had yet to conclude its assignment.

During the recent recess, the lower chamber released the versions of the four Tax Reform Acts as passed by the legislature and assented to by the president. The legislature also published the Certified True Copies of the Acts.