Economy
Atiku Seeks Fresh Passage of Tax Laws After Gazetting Mishap
By Adedapo Adesanya
Former Vice-President, Mr Atiku Abubakar, has recommended that the National Assembly shelve plans to re-gazette the recently passed controversial tax reform laws, and instead carry out a fresh passage ahead of the implementation by January 1, 2026.
Mr Atiku, who came second in the 2023 presidential polls, in a statement described the discrepancy in the gazetted copy of the tax law as a “grave constitutional issue”.
He noted that any law published in a form different from what was approved by lawmakers is “a nullity”.
“The confirmation by the Senate that the gazetted version of the Tinubu Tax Act does not reflect what was duly passed by the National Assembly raises a grave constitutional issue,” he stated.
“A law that was never passed in the form in which it was published is not law. It is a nullity. Under Section 58 of the 1999 Constitution, the lawmaking process is clear: passage by both chambers, presidential assent, and only then gazetting.
“Gazetting is an administrative act; it does not create law, amend law, or cure illegality.”
He warned that post-passage insertions, deletions, or modifications without legislative approval amount to “forgery, not a clerical error”.
“No administrative directive by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, or the Speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbas, can validate such a defect or justify a re-gazetting without re-passage and fresh presidential assent,” he added.
He also said attempts to rush a re-gazetting while delaying legislative investigations “undermine parliamentary oversight and set a dangerous precedent.
Recall that the National Assembly announced that it would work with relevant ministries, departments, and agencies to re-gazette the tax reform laws after a member of the House of Representatives, Mr Abdussamad Dasuki, on December 17 said there are discrepancies between the tax reform law passed by the national assembly and the gazetted copy available to the public.
Other quarters including the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) have also called for the suspension of the implementation of the tax laws, pending a full investigation
The tax reform law, expected to take full effect in January 2026, faced resistance even before its passage into law.
However, the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, has said the January 1, 2026 date for the implementation of the Nigerian Tax Act and the Nigerian Tax Administration Act is sacrosanct.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has urged the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) to grant a one-month extension for the filing of Company Income Tax (CIT) returns.
The appeal followed widespread technical glitches that occurred on the newly introduced Rev360 tax platform, which restricted organisations from meeting the June 30 deadline.
The Director General of the think tank, Mrs Chinyere Almona, in a statement, also appealed to the NRS to waive penalties for companies that were unable to file their returns by the Tuesday statutory deadline due to the portal’s failure.
Mrs Almona explained that the prolonged downtime experienced on the Rev360 platform on the deadline day prevented thousands of companies from completing their tax filings, noting that though some businesses waited until the last minute to file their returns, the widespread system failure could not be blamed on taxpayers.
“Rev360 inaugurated about two months ago, suffered prolonged downtime on Tuesday, leaving thousands of companies unable to file with only hours to spare.
“This is a platform failure, not a taxpayer failure,” she said.
The LCCI director general noted that while teething challenges were expected with a newly deployed digital platform, inaugurating it close to a major statutory deadline exposed businesses to avoidable risks.
According to her, the heavy volume of last-minute users reveals shortcomings in the platform’s capacity, resulting in login failures, validation errors and unsuccessful submissions when taxpayers need reliable access.
She, therefore, appealed to the tax body to immediately extend the CIT filing deadline by one month and waive all penalties for companies that attempted to file on or before the deadline but were prevented from doing so by the system outage.
The LCCI head also appealed to the revenue agency to urgently improve the platform’s capacity and reliability ahead of subsequent filing deadlines.
“The LCCI appeals to the NRS to announce the extension and penalty waiver as soon as possible to avoid apprehension and confusion within the business community,” Mrs Almona said.
She added that in the interest of ensuring a smooth implementation of the new tax administration system, granting an extension had become necessary. According to her, adopting a cautious regulatory approach during the rollout of the new platform will help build confidence among taxpayers while supporting compliance.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Four price decliners further weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 0.46 per cent on Thursday, July 2.
FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc went down by N5.55 to N146.46 per unit from N152.01 per unit, Nitrox Industrial Gases Plc fell by N1.10 to N20.30 per share from N21.40 per share, UBN Property Plc lost 11 Kobo to sell at N1.99 per unit versus the previous day’s N2.10 per unit, and Mass Telecoms Innovation Plc depreciated by 4 Kobo to 32 Kobo per share from 36 Kobo per share.
Consequently, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) dropped 19.74 points to close at 4,248.46 points compared with Wednesday’s closing value of 4,268.20 points, while the market capitalisation decreased by N11.85 billion to N2.549 trillion from N2.561 trillion.
Yesterday, the volume of transactions went up by 92.9 per cent to 440,653 units from 229,238 units, and the number of deals rose by 77.8 per cent to 32 deals from 18 deals, while the value of trades contracted by 51.4 per cent to N10.5 million from N21.5 million.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units traded for N8.4 billion, trailed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units valued at N6.5 billion, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc with 68.9 million units exchanged for N4.8 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units transacted for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units sold for N415.7 million.
By Dipo Olowookere
The selling pressure on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited persisted on Thursday, causing a further decline of 0.61 per cent.
Data from Customs Street showed that the insurance counter lost 2.46 per cent, the banking space declined by 2.15 per cent, the industrial goods sector crumbled by 1.00 per cent, the energy index fell by 0.23 per cent, and the consumer goods segment crashed by 0.08 per cent.
As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) retreated by 1,368.10 points to 224,321.97 points from 225,690.07 points, and the market capitalisation moderated by N878 billion to N143.947 trillion from N144.825 trillion.
Trading data indicated investors bought and sold 855.4 million shares for N28.4 billion in 51,609 deals versus the 488.1 million shares worth N14.0 billion traded in 46,929 deals on Wednesday, showing a spike in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 75.25 per cent, 102.86 per cent, and 9.97 per cent, respectively.
The busiest stock for the session was Sterling Holdings, with a turnover of 459.6 million units worth N3.7 billion, Zenith Bank exchanged 41.2 million units for N4.2 billion, Universal Insurance sold 30.2 million units valued at N25.2 million, Access Holdings traded 29.7 million units worth N654.9 million, and FCMB transacted 28.2 million units valued at N271.4 million.
Yesterday, 13 equities gained weight, while 34 equities shed weight, indicating a negative market breadth index and weak investor sentiment.
Guinea Insurance lost 10.00 per cent to trade at 90 Kobo, International Energy Insurance slipped by 9.84 per cent to N5.22, The Initiates dropped 9.79 per cent to close at N23.50, Tantalizers declined by 9.52 per cent to N3.61, and NEM Insurance crashed by 9.25 per cent to N28.12.
On the flip side, Austin Laz gained 10.00 per cent to close at N3.63, Learn Africa also improved by 10.00 per cent to N9.90, DAAR Communications appreciated by 9.49 per cent to N1.50, UPDC soared by 9.09 per cent to N3.60, and Caverton flew higher by 8.51 per cent to N5.10.
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