An independent accountability organisation has stepped forward to defend the leadership of Nigeria's National Assembly against criticism surrounding the recent re-gazetting of the country's landmark tax reform laws. The group insists the action is a standard administrative procedure, not an admission of legislative fault.
Understanding the Re-gazetting Controversy
The issue revolves around the re-publication of four major fiscal statutes that were enacted in 2025. These laws are the cornerstone of Nigeria's updated revenue system and include the Nigeria Tax Act 2025, the Nigeria Tax Administration Act 2025, the Joint Revenue Board of Nigeria (Establishment) Act 2025, and the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Act 2025. All had been passed by the Senate and House of Representatives and received presidential assent from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu before the re-gazetting occurred.
In a statement released on Monday, the Centre for Accountability and Fiscal Responsibility (CAFR) argued that public scrutiny of this process stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of constitutional lawmaking. The group explained that the re-gazetting was executed in strict compliance with the Acts Authentication Act.
A Mechanism for Legal Certainty, Not a Correction
According to CAFR, this law mandates the legislature to verify that the final version of any act sent for official gazetting perfectly matches the text approved by lawmakers and signed by the president. This verification is a critical safeguard designed to eliminate any discrepancies between legislative records, the assent copy, and the legally enforceable published version.
"The re-gazetting exercise should be understood as a verification mechanism, not a confession of error," stated Dr Lawal Sadiq, the national president of CAFR. He emphasized that authentication procedures exist to ensure precision and legal clarity, especially for laws with significant fiscal and economic impacts like the new tax reforms.
CAFR clarified that the National Assembly's leadership was acting within its constitutional authority by initiating an internal review. This review was solely to confirm the accuracy and completeness of the legislation before its final publication. The organisation warned that skipping such checks could leave the government vulnerable to unnecessary legal disputes, particularly in sensitive areas like taxation where minor textual inconsistencies can create major enforcement and compliance issues.
Protecting Procedural Integrity in Lawmaking
The accountability group was keen to stress that the review process did not reopen policy debates, alter any parliamentary decisions, or interfere with the powers of the executive or judiciary. Its scope was strictly limited to an administrative confirmation that the authenticated laws were identical to those duly passed and assented to.
CAFR also pushed back against narratives suggesting the re-gazetting indicated confusion or weakness within the legislature. It pointed out that similar post-assent verification processes are commonplace in established democracies worldwide, where parliaments routinely correct clerical issues or reissue authenticated copies of statutes to uphold legal certainty.
"In mature legislative systems, accuracy is prioritised over haste," Dr Sadiq remarked. "Credible laws depend not only on political agreement but on procedural integrity." The organisation cautioned that misrepresenting these administrative safeguards as political failures risks eroding public trust in democratic institutions and muddies the waters between genuine policy disagreements and routine legislative practice.
CAFR called on stakeholders, including the media and civil society, to engage critically with the substance of the tax reforms while also recognising the indispensable role of due process in lawmaking. The group concluded that, far from being a problem, the re-gazetting ultimately strengthens the legal foundation of the tax reforms by ensuring that courts, businesses, and citizens rely on precise and authoritative texts. This clarity will be vital as Nigeria prepares to fully implement the new tax framework in 2026.
