By Charles Maduka
The Nigeria Revenue Service has clarified that only officially gazetted Acts of the National Assembly have legal authority, dismissing claims that the country’s newly enacted tax reform laws were altered after their passage.
The Executive Chairman of the NRS, Zacch Adedeji, made this known during a television interview monitored in Abuja, stressing that taxpayers and revenue administrators are guided strictly by the gazetted versions of the law.
Adedeji explained that the change from the Federal Inland Revenue Service to the Nigeria Revenue Service is not a rebranding exercise but a full institutional overhaul aimed at creating a modern, centralised and digital-driven revenue administration system. He said the new framework consolidates several tax-related functions, with emphasis on data integration, automation and reduced human discretion.
He stated that an Act of the National Assembly only becomes effective after presidential assent and official gazetting, noting that the gazetted version remains the authoritative reference in the event of disputes. According to him, neither the executive nor the revenue authority has the power or incentive to alter the law after passage.
The NRS boss added that the reforms are designed to support the Federal Government’s fiscal objectives, revealing that Nigeria’s tax-to-GDP ratio rose to about 13.5 per cent as of October 2025, though still below the African average. He said the focus of the reforms is to tax profits and returns, not capital or poverty.
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