By Adedapo Adesanya

The Chairman of the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), Mr Zacch Adedeji, has asked security agencies to be on alert over planned nationwide protests against the new tax laws, which have officially commenced.

“I’m using this time to call all the security agencies to be on alert,” he said while speaking in an interview on Arise Television on Sunday.

The NRS chief stressed that the reform was for the interest of the poor, but met strong opposition from certain quarters, warning that those pushing anti-tax agitations are unpatriotic elements determined to derail the country’s fiscal reforms.

“Those people you see promoting all this rumour, all this misinformation are those people that are avoiding taxes, that there is no way out for, based on the digitalisation that we brought on board,” he said.

Business Post reports that the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) declared January 14, 2026, as a National Day of Action to protest the planned implementation of the controversial tax reform laws, accusing the federal government of ignoring public concerns and constitutional processes.

Mr Adedeji said tax reform was a clear campaign promise of President Bola Tinubu and a necessary response to what he described as a fragmented tax system that could not sustain the level of development the President envisaged.

“Tax reform is one of the promises made by Mr President from his inaugural speech,” he said. “From the beginning, he made it his point of duty that we need to start early to reform the tax system, which is the real foundation for any sustainable economy in the world.”

He recalled that the President set up a committee headed by Mr Taiwo Oyedele, which, according to him, spent a year consulting stakeholders and preparing recommendations that were then processed by the National Assembly through public hearings and regional engagements before the President assented to the bill in June 2024.

Speaking on the recent issues around the gazetted version of the Nigeria Tax Administration and Other Matters Act differed, Mr Adedeji dismissed the allegations as baseless.

“No, like I said earlier, I don’t want to delve into those rumours,” he said. “For example, all these comparisons that you are mentioning now, honestly, I don’t know where you find them because nobody, except the National Assembly, has the right to the vote book. They are the ones to give us the gazetted law as passed, which… they’ve released… as passed, which is the only thing we have.”

He insisted that the only document relevant to the NRS is the gazetted Act transmitted by the legislature.

“I don’t even need to see the harmonised bill. I don’t need to see any of those things,” he said. “The only thing I need to see is the gazetted bill, which they have given to me. All these processes are internal processes of the National Assembly, which is purely a separation of powers.”

Mr Adedeji notes that the tax authorities had no role in altering any legislation and said the executive had “no place in the law” to tamper with bills passed by parliament.

He also clarified that while the law took effect from June, some rate changes were delayed to give companies time to adjust.

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) agreed to maintain stable oil production at its meeting on Sunday, the group said in a statement.

The agreement comes despite political tensions between key members; Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as well as the capture of the president of another OPEC member, Venezuela, by the United States.

Sunday’s meeting of the eight OPEC+ members, which produce about half of the world’s oil, came after oil prices fell more than 18 per cent in 2025, their steepest annual decline since 2020, amid growing fears of oversupply.

The eight countries – Saudi Arabia, Russia, UAE, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Iraq, Algeria, and Oman – raised their oil production targets by approximately 2.9 million barrels per day from April to December 2025, which is almost 3 per cent of global oil demand.

In November, they agreed to suspend production increases for January, February, and March.

It was reported that Venezuela was not discussed at Sunday’s brief online meeting.

The eight countries will meet next on February 1, the statement said.

Tensions between Saudi Arabia and the UAE escalated last month over the decade-long conflict in Yemen, when a UAE-backed group seized territory from the Saudi-backed government. The crisis triggered the biggest rift in a decade between former close allies, as years of diverging views on critical issues came to a head, the publication writes.

OPEC has in the past managed to overcome serious internal disagreements, such as over the Iran-Iraq war, by prioritizing market management over political disputes.

However, the group faces numerous crises, with Russian oil exports under pressure due to US sanctions over Russia’s war against Ukraine, and Iran facing protests and threats of US intervention, the publication writes.

On Saturday, the US captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and US President Donald Trump said the American government would take control of the country until a transition to a new administration was possible, without specifying how this would be achieved.

Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves, even larger than those of OPEC leader Saudi Arabia, but the country’s oil production has plummeted due to years of mismanagement and sanctions.

By Dipo Olowookere

The first trading session of 2026 on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended on a positive note with a 0.57 per cent growth on Friday.

This was buoyed by renewed appetite for stocks across the key sectors of the market as investors rebalance their portfolios for the new year, especially with the commencement of the controversial tax laws.

Data from Customs Street showed that the banking space advanced by 2.32 per cent, the insurance improved by 2.07 per cent, the energy index expanded by 1.38 per cent, the commodity sector rose by 0.71 per cent, and the consumer goods landscape advanced by 0.21 per cent, while the industrial goods closed flat.

At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) was up by 879.33 points to 156,492.36 points from 155,613.03 points and the market capitalisation went up by N562 billion to N99.938 trillion from Wednesday’s N99.376 trillion.

Yesterday, the quartet of FTN Cocoa, Deap Capital, Mutual Benefits, and ABC Transport chalked up 10.00 per cent each to sell for N5.50, N2.09, N3.41, and N4.51 apiece, while Aluminium Extrusion gained 9.93 per cent to settle at N23.80.

However, Abbey Mortgage Bank declined by 6.25 per cent to N6.00, FCMB shrank by 4.56 per cent to N11.50, Seplat Energy depreciated by 3.43 per cent to N5,610.00, Guinea Insurance lost 2.26 per cent to close at N1.30, and Universal Insurance went down by 1.65 per cent to N1.19.

A total of 440.0 million shares worth N25.0 billion exchanged hands in 40,245 deals during the session compared with the 1.2 billion shares valued at N35.1 billion traded in 27,884 deals in the previous session, representing a surge in the number of deals by 44.33 per cent and a shortfall in the trading volume and value by 63.33 per cent and 28.78 per cent, respectively.

Chams topped the activity table after the sale of 120.3 million units worth N455.1 million, Linkage Assurance traded 21.2 million units valued at N38.3 million, Lasaco Assurance exchanged 19.5 million units for N48.6 million, Aradel Holdings sold 15.6 million units worth N10.7 billion, and Access Holdings transacted 14.3 million units valued at N317.3 million.