Reps set up committee to probe alleged discrepancies in gazetted tax laws

By Ayorinde Oluokun/Abuja

The House of Representatives has appointed Muktar Betara to lead a seven-member committee saddled with the investigation of the claim of discrepancies in the tax laws passed by the National Assembly and that signed into law by President Bola Tinubu.

Other members of the committee as announced by Tajudeen Abbas, the Speaker of the House of Representatives at plenary on Thursday are Idris Wase (Plateau), James Faleke (Lagos), Sada Soli (Katsina), Iduma Igariwey (Ebonyi), Fredrick Agbedi (Bayelsa) and Babajimi Benson (Lagos).

The setting up of the committee followed a motion by Abdussamad Dasuki, a lawmaker from Sokoto on Wednesday that the gazetted tax laws available to Nigerians do not reflect the harmonised legislation passed by the national assembly.

Dasuki told the House that his legislative rights had been breached, insisting that the content of the gazetted tax laws did not reflect what lawmakers debated, voted on, and approved on the floor.

According to him, after the passage of the tax bills, he spent three days reviewing the gazetted copies alongside the Votes and Proceedings of the House and the harmonised versions adopted by both chambers of NASS. He observed discrepancies.

“I was here, I gave my vote and it was counted, and I am seeing something completely different,” Dasuki said, noting that copies of the gazetted laws obtained from the Ministry of Information did not match the versions approved by the House and Senate.

The lawmaker stressed that his concern was not about moving a motion but about alerting the House to a serious breach of legislative process and the Constitution.

He urged Speaker Tajudeen Abbas to ensure that all relevant documents including the harmonised versions, Votes and Proceedings of both chambers, and the gazetted copies in circulation are presented to the Committee of the Whole for scrutiny by all members.

“Mr. Speaker, the whole members should see what is in the gazetted copy and compare it with what they passed on the floor so that the necessary amendments can be made. This is a breach of the Constitution and our laws,” Dasuki said.

President Bola Tinubu had on 26 June 2025 signed the four (4) Tax Reform Bills into law.

These laws include the Nigeria Tax Act (NTA), the Nigeria Tax Administration Act (NTAA), the Nigeria Revenue Service Act (NRSA) and the Joint Revenue Board Act (JRBA)

The laws were designed for comprehensive overhauling of the the Nigerian tax landscape