The Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, has dismissed reports claiming that the Federal Government has paused the issuance of implementation guidelines for the new tax laws due to uncertainty.
Daily Trust had reported that the Nigerian government had halted the release of guidelines, quoting Oyedele as instructing the Nigeria Revenue Service and the Joint Revenue Board to wait because the final version of the laws was unclear.
Oyedele clarified that the report misrepresented his remarks, which he made on Tuesday in Lagos while responding to questions after delivering a keynote address at the 2026 Economic Outlook event organized by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), themed “ICAN@60: Accountability as the Bedrock for National Development.”
During the event, Oyedele acknowledged concerns surrounding the authenticity of the versions of the tax laws currently in circulation. He explained that the uncertainty prompted him to instruct his team to obtain a printed copy of the laws from the Government Printer, as stipulated by the Acts Authentication Act.
“The Acts Authentication Act says whatever the Government Printer publishes is the evidence of the law that was passed,” Oyedele said. He noted that while the Government Printer initially published a version considered official by the executive, lawmakers later disputed it, insisting it did not reflect what was passed by the National Assembly.
According to Oyedele, the legislature subsequently undertook its own review process and produced separate gazetted copies, which were shared in soft copy. However, his team was unable to obtain a printed copy from the Government Printer, as officials reportedly informed them that all printed copies had been taken by the National Assembly and should not be made available to the public until lawmakers conclude their review.
Reacting to the Daily Trust report, Oyedele took to his verified X (formerly Twitter) handle on Thursday, sharing a screenshot of the headline and watermarked it “Fake News.”