A member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Abdulsammad Dasuki (PDP–Sokoto), on Wednesday raised the alarm over alleged discrepancies between tax reform laws passed by the National Assembly and the versions later gazetted and released to the public.

Dasuki made the allegation during plenary, claiming that the contents of the gazetted tax laws did not reflect what lawmakers debated and approved on the floor of the House, thereby breaching his legislative privilege.

“I am here today because my privilege as a member of this House has been breached,” Dasuki said.

He explained that after the passage of the tax bills, he spent three days examining 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.

According to him, the review revealed notable discrepancies.

“I was here, I gave my vote and it was counted, and I am seeing something completely different,” he said.

Dasuki added that copies of the gazetted laws obtained from the Ministry of Information did not correspond with the versions approved by both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

The lawmaker stressed that his concern was not aimed at moving a motion but at drawing the attention of the House to what he described as a serious breach of legislative procedure and the Constitution.

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

“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 amendments can be made. This is a breach of the Constitution and our laws,” Dasuki said.

Responding, Speaker Tajudeen Abbas acknowledged the concern raised by the lawmaker and assured the House that appropriate action would be taken.

The House of Representatives and the Senate had passed the tax reform bills in March and May 2025, respectively.

On June 26, 2025, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu signed four tax reform bills into law. The laws are 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 new tax laws are designed to comprehensively overhaul Nigeria’s tax system with the objectives of driving economic growth, increasing revenue generation, improving the business environment and strengthening tax administration across the federal, state and local government levels.

Under the new tax regime, the Value Added Tax (VAT) rate remains at 7.5 per cent, despite earlier proposals to raise it to 12.5 per cent. However, the scope of VAT has been expanded.

Essential goods and services such as food, education, healthcare, public transportation, residential rent and exports are zero-rated in order to reduce inflationary pressure on citizens.

The revenue allocation formula for VAT has also been restructured, with 30 per cent of proceeds now distributed based on consumption, 50 per cent shared equally among states, and 20 per cent allocated on the basis of population.