Reps to hold public hearing on tax reform bills February 26

The house of representatives has fixed February 26 for a public hearing on the tax reform bills.

At the plenary session on Tuesday, Tajudeen Abbas, speaker of the house of representatives, constituted a 36-member special committee for the public hearing.

Abiodun Faleke, a lawmaker from Lagos, is the chairman of the committee, while Saidu Abdullahi, from Niger state, is the deputy chairman.

Both lawmakers serve as the chairman and deputy chairman of the house committee on finance, respectively.

Other members include Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, Sada Soli, Nicholas Mutu, and Fred Agedi, among others.

Last week, the four bills—the Nigeria Tax Bill, the Tax Administration Bill, the Joint Revenue Board Establishment Bill, and the Nigeria Revenue Service Bill — scaled the second reading at the green chamber after an extensive debate by lawmakers.

On October 3, Tinubu urged the national assembly to pass the tax reform bills, which the senate approved for the second reading in November.

The bills initially faced opposition from the national economic council (NEC) and northern governors, who argued that the proposed laws could harm the region’s interests.

They urged the national assembly to reject the bills, demanding fair and equitable implementation across all regions.

However, in January, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) endorsed the bills after agreeing on an “equitable” VAT-sharing formula.