Chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Taiwo Oyedele, has dismissed claims of discrepancies between the newly signed tax laws and what was purportedly passed by the National Assembly, insisting that versions circulating in the public domain are not authentic.
Oyedele said there is currently no basis for comparing what was gazetted with what was passed by the lawmakers, noting that the officially harmonised bills certified by the Clerk of the National Assembly are not publicly available.
“Before anyone can say there is a difference between what was gazetted and what was passed, we have what has not been gazetted. We don’t have what was passed,” he said.
According to him, only members of the National Assembly can authoritatively confirm the exact content of the harmonised bills transmitted to the President, as the certified copies are in their custody.
“It should be the harmonised version certified by the clerk. Even I cannot say that I have it. I only have what was presented to Mr President to sign,” Oyedele explained.
He stressed that documents currently in circulation and widely reported by some media organisations do not reflect the official position.
“What was circulating and also widely reported by a lot of media organizations is actually fake,” Oyedele said.
The clarification comes amid public debate and concerns over the content and implementation of the new tax laws.
