The Nigeria Revenue Service has clarified that only officially gazetted Acts of the National Assembly carry legal authority and are binding on taxpayers and revenue administrators, dismissing claims that the country’s newly enacted tax reform laws were altered after passage. The Executive Chairman of NRS, Zacch Adedeji, stated this during a television interview monitored in Abuja. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that provisions of the recently enacted tax reform laws changed the nomenclature of the country’s apex tax authority from FIRS to NRS.
According to Adedeji, NRS is not branding. It is a total institutional upgrade, moving from fragmented revenue administration to a modern, digitalised, centralised and intelligence-driven system. He said that under the new framework, multiple tax and revenue-related functions previously spread across agencies have been consolidated, with a stronger emphasis on data integration, automation and reduced human discretion. He dismissed allegations that the country’s newly enacted tax reform laws were altered after passage by the National Assembly. “Only the officially gazetted Acts carry legal authority and are binding on taxpayers and administrators,”he said. The NRS boss said that an Act of the National Assembly only becomes effective after Presidential assent and official gazetting, with the gazetted version constituting the authoritative text in the event of disputes. “Revenue agencies, courts, and taxpayers are therefore guided solely by the gazetted law, not draft bills, committee reports or chamber debates. “Neither the executive nor the revenue authority has any incentive or legal capacity to alter the law after passage,” he said. Adedeji said that the overhaul of the NRS is also designed to support the Federal Government’s broader fiscal objectives.
According to him, Nigeria’s tax-to-GDP ratio has improved in recent years, rising to about 13.5 per cent as at October 2025. “But it remains below the African average and well short of levels seen in peer emerging markets,” he said. Adedeji said that the overall aim is to focus on taxing profits and returns rather than capital or investment. “We are not going to tax poverty; we want to tax prosperity,” he said.
The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise has warned that Nigeria’s tax reform could unintentionally criminalise as many as 40 million informal businesses if implemented without careful sequencing and adequate support. This was disclosed in a policy document signed by the CPPE’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr Muda Yusuf. The PUNCH reports that the implementation of the remaining tax laws signed into law on 26 June 2025 has commenced as planned by the Federal Government, despite allegations that gazetted copies were altered. Yusuf described the reforms as among the most ambitious fiscal restructuring efforts in recent decades but cautioned that the informal sector could bear the brunt of implementation challenges. He said, “Any serious discussion of tax reform in Nigeria must confront the scale of the informal economy. With an estimated 40 million micro, small, and nano enterprises, over 80 per cent operating informally, the sector is central to employment, income generation, and economic resilience. Over 90 per cent of jobs are in the informal economy, according to the Nigeria Labour Force Survey by the National Bureau of Statistics.
It read, “Most informal operators lack structured record-keeping systems and have limited understanding of tax concepts such as company income tax, VAT, personal income tax, and withholding tax. Businesses are largely cash-based, operate on thin margins, and often lack the literacy and digital capacity required for compliance. The new framework introduces mandatory filing requirements, record-keeping standards, penalties, and presumptive taxation. Without careful sequencing, these provisions risk criminalizing informality rather than encouraging gradual formalization.