NBA, Atiku demand new tax legislation suspension

The Nigerian Bar Affiliation and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, on Tuesday, have raised critical considerations over alleged post-legislative alterations to the lately enacted Tax Reform Acts, calling for the instant suspension of their implementation.

In a press release on Tuesday, NBA President, Mazi Afam Osigwe (SAN), stated the controversies surrounding the legal guidelines threaten the integrity, transparency, and credibility of Nigeria’s legislative course of.

He warned that the problems strike on the coronary heart of constitutional governance and known as for a complete, open, and clear investigation to revive public confidence.

“The Nigerian Bar Affiliation considers it crucial {that a} complete, open, and clear investigation be carried out to make clear the circumstances surrounding the enactment of the legal guidelines and to revive public confidence within the legislative course of. Till these points are absolutely examined and resolved, all plans for the implementation of the Tax Reform Acts ought to be instantly suspended,” the assertion stated.

The NBA additional warned that authorized and coverage uncertainty ensuing from the controversy may unsettle the enterprise setting, erode investor confidence, and create unpredictability for people, companies, and establishments anticipated to adjust to the legal guidelines.

Equally, Atiku described the alleged alterations as a “grave assault on legislative supremacy.”

He accused the chief of inserting coercive enforcement powers, imposing harsher monetary obligations on residents, and eradicating key accountability mechanisms with out parliamentary approval.

The PidomNigeria reported {that a} Sokoto lawmaker within the Home of Representatives, Abdussamad Dasuki, had final week known as the legislature’s consideration to alleged alteration to the tax legal guidelines, saying what was formally gazetted by the Federal Authorities was completely different from the ultimate copy handed by the lawmakers and despatched to President Bola Tinubu for assent.

The Home final Thursday raised a seven-man panel to probe allegation.

Atiku, on Tuesday, joined the rising calls on the chief to droop the legislation, which was scheduled for rollout on January 1, 2026.

Each Atiku and the NBA stated the implementation have to be suspended pending investigation by the lawmakers, whereas calling on the Nationwide Meeting to rectify the unlawful alterations and maintain accountable events accountable.

Atiku additionally known as on the judiciary to strike down unconstitutional provisions, inspired civil society and Nigerians to reject the assault on democratic rules, and requested the EFCC to analyze and prosecute these culpable within the alleged unlawful amendments.

He stated, “This draconian overreach by the chief department undermines the foundational precept of legislative supremacy within the making of legal guidelines. It reveals a authorities extra keen on extracting wealth from struggling residents than empowering them to prosper.

“The next substantive adjustments had been allegedly illegally inserted into the tax payments after parliamentary approval, in clear violation of Sections 4 and 58 of the 1999 Structure: new coercive powers with out legislative consent; arrest powers granted to tax authorities; property seizure and garnishment with out court docket orders; and enforcement gross sales carried out with out judicial oversight.

“These provisions remodel tax collectors into quasi-law enforcement businesses, stripping Nigerians of due course of protections that the Nationwide Meeting intentionally included. Elevated monetary burdens on residents embrace a compulsory 20 per cent safety deposit earlier than interesting tax assessments, compound curiosity on tax money owed, and quarterly reporting necessities with lowered thresholds.”

The previous Vice President stated the adjustments create monetary obstacles that make it tough for odd Nigerians to contest unfair assessments, whereas additional elevating compliance prices for companies working in a harsh financial local weather.

He said, “Removing of accountability mechanisms, deletion of quarterly and annual reporting obligations to the Nationwide Meeting, elimination of strategic planning submission necessities, and removing of ministerial supervisory provisions. By stripping away oversight mechanisms, the federal government has insulated itself from accountability whereas increasing its powers—an indicator of authoritarian governance.

“This constitutional violation exposes a troubling actuality: a authorities obsessive about imposing ever-increasing tax burdens on impoverished Nigerians moderately than creating circumstances for prosperity. As an alternative of investing in infrastructure, training, healthcare, and financial empowerment that may broaden the tax base organically, this administration chooses the trail of aggressive extraction from an already struggling populace.

“Nigeria’s poverty charge stays alarmingly excessive, unemployment continues to devastate households, and inflation erodes buying energy every day. But, moderately than supporting residents to turn out to be extra productive, thereby producing sustainable tax revenues, the federal government employs draconian measures to squeeze sources from individuals who have little left to outlive.

“True financial progress comes from empowering residents, not impoverishing them additional by means of punitive taxation and erosion of authorized protections. A thriving financial system with affluent residents naturally generates sturdy tax revenues. However this requires imaginative and prescient, funding, and endurance, qualities evidently missing in an administration that resorts to constitutional manipulation to attain short-term fiscal targets.”

Atiku warned that no legislation can take impact if it was not handed by the Nationwide Meeting, stressing that this basic precept have to be upheld to keep away from a slide into arbitrary rule the place constitutional protections are rendered meaningless.

In the meantime, in response to public considerations, the Government Chairman of the Akwa Ibom State Income Service, Mr. Okon Okon, clarified that residents will nonetheless entry their financial institution accounts with no Tax Identification Quantity from January 1, 2026, describing misinformation about account restrictions as false.

Okon added that cash in private accounts shouldn’t be taxable, and that the Joint Tax Board has launched a web site enabling residents to generate TINs in 20 seconds utilizing their NIN and date of start.

He emphasised that the nationwide tax reforms goal to scale back a number of taxation, simplify the system, and relieve Nigerians of undue tax burdens, whereas fostering financial progress.

In line with Okon, the reforms scale back the variety of completely different taxes throughout the federal, state, and native ranges from 63 to about 10, with clear delineations on which tier collects what.

He praised Governor Umo Eno for supporting sensitisation efforts and famous that the reforms would drive financial actions, enhance growth, and curtail non-state actors’ interference.