New Tax Law Goes Rogue

 By Andy Ezeani

It is two days to Christmas. This, universally, is a season of goodwill. Already, President Bola Tinubu has retired to Lagos for his holiday. No one will begrudge him rest at this most fitting season to relax. Against the backdrop of unceasing flow of crisis and problems that have characterized his presidency, most of them self-inflicted, though, Tinubu can do with every peace and goodwill Christmas offers. 

*Tinubu

Before he left Abuja last Friday, December 19 2025, after laying the 2026 annual budget before the National Assembly, the President reportedly left appropriate messages of goodwill for the lawmakers at the National Assembly. That would be very characteristic of him in relation to the lawmakers. 

Instructively, while happily heading out of Abuja for the Christmas holiday, with the said goodwill message to the National Assembly to boot, President Tinubu departed on a blaze of controversy, indeed a scandal. Should he have suspended his rest to attend to the scandal?  Maybe not. That would have been uncharacteristic, anyway. But does the problem at hand require urgent attention? Yes, it does! 

It is so sad that Nigeria has been condemned by its governments to accept unethical conducts as normal. The last twelve years have been particularly traumatizing. Murder in high places can now be dismissed easily as inconsequential, and there will be enough hired hands to justify the crime. The question has become, is there any act in government too grisly and repugnant for Nigerians to swallow and trudge along? 

The scandal of the National Assembly passing one body of tax laws and the executive gazetting a different version is taking impunity and violation of the law to a new level. The scandal of the new Tax Law presently before Nigerians is an unprecedented assault at the heart of democracy. It introduces an element of criminality in law making to a level never contemplated or experienced in the country.

This is one scandal that the presidency cannot wish away, not with silence, and not with recourse to the usual “the opposition is at it again”. The backdrop to the scandal will put the wilfulness of the executive misdeed in perspective.

The 10th National Assembly has been at the service of the executive branch since the inception of the Tinubu-led government on May 29 2023. The leadership of the National Assembly has been ready to jump as asked, in many cases higher. 

There is nothing the executive wanted from the National Assembly that it had not promptly received. Now, that complaisance is no longer enough. In an unprecedented brazen act that speaks of total disdain for the National Assembly and the law of the land, the Executive has asserted that it is both the law and the lawmaker. This has never happened in the relationship between the executive and the legislature in the country. But can the 10th National Assembly afford to be offended? Not likely.

The discovery that the new Tax Law of Nigeria gazetted by the Executive branch and released to the public is substantially doctored and different from what the National Assembly passed, introduces a new level of criminality and contempt in governance of Nigeria.

When the presidency tabled a proposal for a new body of tax laws few months ago, many Nigerians, among them knowledgeable professionals in the field of taxation, academics, entrepreneurs and analysts expressed apprehension about aspects of the proposal. Some outrightly opposed the idea of the proposed law, identifying latent areas of possible abuse and unfairness, as well as fears of further economic emasculation of Nigerians and small businesses.

The National Assembly subsequently opened debate on the proposed new tax law, cognisant of the discomfort of many. The presentiment that the government may overreach itself in executing the proposed new law was heavy. 

After all was said and done, including public hearings by the National Assembly and elaborate consultations, a new tax law was passed by the legislature, encompassing; (a) The Nigeria Tax Act (b) The Nigeria Tax Administration Act (c) The Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Act and (d) Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Act. The President duly signed the Acts as passed by the National Assembly.

Lo and behold, in what has become the most brazen-faced act of executive assault on the distinct realm of law making, the executive has gazetted and released a copy of a new tax law that contains not what the National Assembly passed, but obviously what the Executive had in mind. wants. Such impunity. 

A new tax law, or for that matter, any other law in the land should be in the interest of the citizens, the society and the economy. The Tinubu government said the tax reform seeks to simplify tax compliance, expand the tax base and modernize revenue collection. These ordinarily should not be a cause for concern. Ominous signs about the said tax reform have however, arisen. 

Promotion of the new tax law has been carried out with such manifest intensity that betrays an inexplicable desperation to enthrone the new tax regime at all cost. And to note that the Tinubu government is hardly known for such tenaciousness and commitment to policies that enhance the welfare of the people. 

Only recently, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar raised issue about the quiet engagement by the government through the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) of a company, Xpress Payment as TSA agent, in anticipation of the new tax law. Who owns the private company? Why is a private entity required for public tax collection? The government never cared to address the concern Atiku and others raised. 

Penultimate week, the government, again through the FIRS, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Directoate Generale des Finances Publiques (DGFIP) of France, ceding supervisory role in tax administration to the French. The National Assembly had no hand in the international agreement. Every call for the government to disclose the content of the MOU with the impending French tax administrators has been ignored. Now, it has turned out that the gazetted new Tax Law is a dud. 

There is no way that the new Tax Law can proceed with such high level of integrity deficit. Any attempt to rail road a clearly discredited tax law into existence will further confirm that the Tinubu government has an ulterior motive.

Unfortunately, it does not appear that the 10th National Assembly will ever be sufficiently offended to confront the Executive, not with all the Christmas messages of goodwill, anyway.   

*Ezeani is a commentator on public issues