The Minority Caucus of the House of Representatives has called on the Federal Government to suspend the implementation of the newly enacted tax laws amid allegations of unlawful alterations that have generated widespread controversy across the country.

The demand follows comments last week by the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, who insisted that the implementation date for the Nigerian Tax Act and the Nigerian Tax Administration Act remained sacrosanct.

“The plan to commence the new laws on January 1, 2026, will go ahead as scheduled because these reforms are designed to provide relief to the Nigerian people,” Mr. Oyedele said after a meeting attended by the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr. Zacchaeus Adedeji, and the Chairman of the National Tax Policy Implementation Committee, Mr. Joseph Tegbe.

He explained that the reforms would significantly ease the tax burden on citizens and businesses. According to him, “the bottom 98 per cent of workers will see either no Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax or lower taxes to be paid, small businesses—97 per cent of them—will be exempted from Corporate Income Tax, Value Added Tax (VAT), and Withholding Tax, while large businesses will see a reduction in the taxes that they pay.

“The whole idea is to promote economic growth, inclusivity, as well as shared prosperity for our people,” he added.

Despite maintaining that the implementation timeline would stand, Mr. Oyedele welcomed the intervention of the National Assembly over the allegations of alteration. He said the Federal Government was prepared to work with federal lawmakers to address concerns raised by Nigerians, including opposition figures.

However, in a statement jointly issued and signed by Rep. O.K. Chinda, Minority Leader; Rt. Hon. Ali Isa J.C., Minority Whip; Rt. Hon. Aliyu Madaki, Deputy Minority Leader; and Rt. Hon. George Ozodinobi, Deputy Minority Whip, the Minority Caucus urged the Federal Government to halt implementation until all investigations are concluded.

“We call on the government to suspend the implementation of the tax laws until investigations are concluded and there is clarity and certainty about the law to be implemented,” the statement said.

The caucus also insisted that Nigerians and the business community were entitled to copies of the laws “they are expected to obey,” assuring that it would ensure any alleged illegalities in the gazetted tax laws were addressed in the national interest.

The lawmakers said they had noted “with great consternation and an overwhelming sense of disappointment” the controversy surrounding the tax reform laws, which were duly passed by the National Assembly and signed into law by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR.

“Ordinarily, the controversy would have been dismissed as needless, but the gravity of the cause is of great concern to all Nigerians, especially as it borders on accusations of unlawful alterations to the laws as passed by both Chambers of the National Assembly and subsequently signed by the President,” the statement said.

They recalled that the issue had been raised on the floor of the House by a member during a recent plenary session, prompting the inauguration of a high-powered committee to investigate allegations that the tax laws had been fraudulently altered, gazetted, and circulated to the public.

“As such, we want to assure Nigerians that the Minority Caucus of the House of Representatives will stand with the entire House to ensure that the circumstances surrounding this illegality are exposed and that the culprits are brought to book in the interest of justice for all Nigerians,” the caucus said.

The statement further explained the lawful process of gazetting legislation, noting that it begins with the Clerk to the National Assembly (CNA) transmitting the authentic copies of laws to the relevant federal agency responsible for gazetting government documents.

“This means that the National Assembly is always the custodian of the genuine documents of the laws of the federation that have been passed, and we will always ensure that the truth prevails in moments of controversy such as this,” the lawmakers said.

They urged Nigerians to disregard any purported tax laws being circulated without the signatures of the CNA and the President and Commander-in-Chief, stressing that such documents did not originate from the National Assembly and did not reflect the true character of what was passed by the Legislature and signed by the President.

“Any attempt to foist fake laws on Nigerians is an attack on the independence and constitutional role of the National Assembly in safeguarding our democracy, and the caucus will unconditionally protect the independence of the Legislature and our democracy,” the statement added.

The controversy has continued to trail the implementation of the new tax laws following concerns raised by Rep. Abdussamad Dasuki, who alleged discrepancies between the versions of the tax laws passed by the National Assembly and those subsequently gazetted and made available to the public.

Mr. Dasuki argued that his legislative rights had been breached, insisting that the content of the gazetted laws did not reflect what lawmakers debated and approved.

“Before you can say there is a difference between what was gazetted and what was passed, we have what has not been gazetted. We don’t have what was passed,” he said.

“The official harmonised bills certified by the Clerk, which the National Assembly sent to the President, we don’t have a copy to compare. Only the lawmakers can say authoritatively what we sent. It should be the harmonised version certified by the Clerk. Even I cannot say that I have it. I only have what was presented to Mr. President to sign.”

President Tinubu signed four tax reform bills into law, a move the Federal Government has described as the most significant overhaul of Nigeria’s tax system in decades.

The laws—the Nigeria Tax Act, the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, and the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Act—are scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2026. They will operate under a single authority, the Nigeria Revenue Service.