The Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, has denied reports claiming that the Federal Government paused the issuance of implementation guidelines for the new tax laws due to uncertainty. A media report had alleged that Oyedele instructed the Nigeria Revenue Service and the Joint Revenue Board to suspend action because the final version of the laws was unclear. The report quoted him as making the remarks in Lagos on Tuesday after delivering a keynote address at the 2026 Economic Outlook event organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria.
Oyedele, however, clarified that while he acknowledged concerns about differing versions of the tax laws in circulation, no directive was issued to halt implementation guidelines. He explained that the uncertainty led him to instruct his team to obtain a printed copy from the Government Printer, in line with the Acts Authentication Act, stating that, “The Acts Authentication Act says whatever the Government Printer publishes is the evidence of the law that was passed.” He added that although the executive considered an initial version official, lawmakers later disputed it and produced separate gazetted copies, while printed copies from the Government Printer were unavailable. Reacting on his verified X handle on Thursday, Oyedele dismissed the report by watermarking its headline “Fake News.”