The Federal Government has maintained that there is only one official version of the newly enacted tax reform laws.
Speaking at an end-of-year press conference in Abuja on Monday, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, dismissed claims that the laws had been altered after passage by the National Assembly.
He emphasized that the version assented to by President Bola Tinubu remains unchanged.
Idris added that the laws underwent the proper legislative process, including consultations and debates at the National Assembly, before receiving presidential approval.
“The Federal Government is going ahead with the commencement of implementation, noting no changes,” Idris said.
The minister noted that questions about alleged differences between the version passed by lawmakers and the one officially gazetted had been raised in the National Assembly, adding that the executive would act based on the legislature’s review.
“I think it is important for us to wait for the National Assembly to look at this again to tell us whether there were discrepancies or not,” he said.
“This is, at this point, an affair of the National Assembly, to which I have no jurisdiction, and I have no authority to speak about. As far as the government of Nigeria is concerned, there’s only one version of that tax document.”
The controversy erupted after Abdussamad Dasuki, the lawmaker representing Kebbe/Tambuwal Federal Constituency in Sokoto State, raised concerns in the House of Representatives.
He claimed that the version of the tax reform laws passed by the National Assembly was different from the one later gazetted and distributed by the Federal Government through the Ministry of Information.
No altered tax laws only one official version – Nigerian govt
