The House of Representatives has appointed a seven-member ad hoc committee, with Lagos lawmaker Rt Hon James Faleke among its members, to investigate allegations of discrepancies between the tax reform bills passed by the National Assembly and those signed into law by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The committee, chaired by Muktar Betara, was constituted following a motion raised by Abdussamad Dasuki, a member representing Sokoto State, who alleged that the gazetted versions of the tax laws currently in circulation do not reflect the harmonised legislation debated and approved by both chambers of the National Assembly.
Announcing the composition of the panel at plenary on Thursday, Speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbas, named the other members as Idris Wase (Plateau), Sada Soli (Katsina), Iduma Igariwey (Ebonyi), Fredrick Agbedi (Bayelsa), and Babajimi Benson (Lagos).
Dasuki told the House that his legislative rights had been breached, insisting that the content of the gazetted tax laws differed from what lawmakers voted on and passed on the floor. He said he discovered the inconsistencies after spending three days reviewing the gazetted copies alongside the Votes and Proceedings of the House, as well as the harmonised versions adopted by both chambers of the National Assembly.
“I was here, I gave my vote and it was counted, and I am seeing something completely different,” Dasuki said, adding that copies of the gazetted laws obtained from the Ministry of Information did not correspond with the versions approved by the House of Representatives and the Senate.
He stressed that his intervention was not merely procedural but aimed at drawing attention to what he described as a serious breach of legislative process and constitutional provisions. Dasuki urged the Speaker to ensure that all relevant documents — including the harmonised bills, Votes and Proceedings of both chambers, and the gazetted laws — are presented to the Committee of the Whole for scrutiny by all lawmakers.
“Mr Speaker, all members should see what is contained in the gazetted copy and compare it with what was passed on the floor, so that the necessary corrections can be made. This is a breach of the Constitution and our laws,” he said.
President Tinubu had, on June 26, 2025, signed four tax reform bills into law. The legislations are the Nigeria Tax Act (NTA), Nigeria Tax Administration Act (NTAA), Nigeria Revenue Service Act (NRSA), and the Joint Revenue Board Act (JRBA).
The laws are intended to comprehensively overhaul Nigeria’s tax framework, improve revenue generation, and streamline tax administration across the federation.
