The Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, has denied claims that the Federal Government has suspended the issuance of implementation guidelines for Nigeria’s newly enacted tax laws.
Oyedele was reacting to a media report which alleged that the government had paused the release of guidelines due to uncertainty over the final versions of the tax laws. The report quoted him as directing the Nigeria Revenue Service and the Joint Revenue Board to delay action because the laws were allegedly unclear.
Speaking earlier this week at the 2026 Economic Outlook event organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) in Lagos, Oyedele acknowledged that multiple versions of the tax laws were in circulation, raising concerns about their authenticity.
He explained that the uncertainty led his committee to seek confirmation from the Government Printer, in line with the Acts Authentication Act, which recognises documents published by the Government Printer as the official evidence of laws passed.
“The Acts Authentication Act provides that whatever the Government Printer publishes is the evidence of the law that was passed,” Oyedele said.
According to him, although the Government Printer initially released a version regarded as official by the executive arm, members of the National Assembly later disputed it, arguing that it did not reflect what was actually passed by the legislature.
Oyedele added that lawmakers subsequently conducted their own review and produced separate gazetted copies, which were circulated electronically. However, his team was unable to obtain a printed version from the Government Printer, as officials reportedly said all copies had been taken by the National Assembly and would not be released until the review process is concluded.
Reacting to the report on Thursday via his verified X (formerly Twitter) account, Oyedele dismissed the claim, sharing a screenshot of the headline and describing it as “fake news.”
He reaffirmed that the work on tax reforms remains ongoing and that there has been no official suspension of the implementation guidelines.
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