Nigeria’s Minister of State for Finance, Taiwo Oyedele, has admitted that the country’s new tax reform laws contain errors. He assured that corrective measures are already underway to address the discrepancies.
Oyedele made the disclosure during a fireside chat at the 2026 annual conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Section on Legal Practice, themed “From Policy to Practice: Making Sense of Nigeria’s New Tax Reforms.”
“Errors occurred due to manual processes and multiple stages of review in the drafting and legislative process,” the Fiscal Reforms Committee said in a statement on Friday.
The minister explained that inconsistencies emerged during the law‑making process due to procedural lapses. He urged Nigerians to await the outcome of the legislative probe into the alleged discrepancies.
“What we need is a more transparent and reliable legislative process where every version of a law is publicly available,” he said.
He assured that the issues would be corrected through a proposed Finance Bill, stressing that enforcement of the reforms would not be arbitrary, but anchored on transparency and fairness to all.
Policy Consistency And Equity
Reflecting on past policy shifts, Oyedele warned that inconsistency had discouraged investors. “If policies can change overnight, it sends the wrong signal to investors. Consistency is critical,” he said.
He highlighted disparities in Nigeria’s previous tax regime, noting that personal and corporate taxation discouraged business formalisation.
The new reforms, he said, are designed to encourage formalisation, improve policy consistency, and reduce discretionary practices.
“Nearly half of working Nigerians earn less than ₦70,000 monthly. Taxing them aggressively would be unjust,” Oyedele said, adding that low‑income earners and small businesses would be protected.
He also confirmed that minimum tax requirements for loss‑making businesses had been removed, describing the old approach as taxing capital instead of profit.
The development follows concerns raised over discrepancies between the gazetted version of the tax laws and those passed by the National Assembly.
On December 17, 2025, lawmaker Abdussamad Dasuki alleged that versions of the tax laws in circulation differed from what legislators approved.
The claim raised political dust at the time and prompted the House to set up a special committee to review and reconcile the differences.
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