Oyedele Debunks Reports of Federal Government Suspending New Tax Laws Guidelines

Taiwo Oyedele, chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, has dismissed claims that the Federal Government has suspended the issuance of implementation guidelines for Nigeria’s new tax laws, describing the report as false.

The allegation, published by an online platform, quoted Oyedele as directing the Nigeria Revenue Service and the Joint Revenue Board to halt preparations because the final versions of the tax laws were unclear. The report said the remarks were made in Lagos on Tuesday after Oyedele delivered a keynote address at the 2026 Economic Outlook event organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN).

At the forum themed “ICAN@60: Accountability as the Bedrock for National Development,” Oyedele had raised concerns about the authenticity of different versions of the tax laws currently circulating. He explained that the confusion prompted his team to seek a printed copy of the Acts from the Government Printer in line with the Acts Authentication Act.

“The Acts Authentication Act states that whatever is published by the Government Printer is the legal evidence of the law that was passed,” he said at the event.

According to Oyedele, although the executive arm initially relied on a version produced by the Government Printer, the National Assembly later challenged that document, arguing that it did not reflect what lawmakers passed. He said the legislature subsequently reviewed the laws and produced its own gazetted soft copies.

He added that efforts to obtain printed copies from the Government Printer were unsuccessful, as officials reportedly informed his team that all copies had been collected by the National Assembly and were not to be released to the public until the legislative review was concluded.

However, Oyedele on Thursday took to his verified X account to refute the media report suggesting that guideline issuance had been suspended. He shared a screenshot of the headline and clearly stamped it with the words “Fake News,” insisting that the Federal Government had not paused implementation processes for the new tax laws.