Former Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Muhammad Nami, has raised serious concerns over the alleged criminal alteration of Nigeria’s Tax Administration Act, warning that the country must not take sides between those accused of tampering with the law and others he described as “operating like a government within a government.”
Reacting to reports from the National Assembly that provisions of the Tax Administration Act were altered before the law was gazetted, Nami described the incident as unprecedented in Nigeria’s legislative history and called for a thorough investigation and prosecution of those responsible.
“We have on our hands a group of people who criminally altered a legal document and another set of individuals who appear to be operating like a government within a government. In this case, we cannot afford to take sides with any of them,” Nami said.
According to him, the alterations allegedly resulted in a gazetted law that differed significantly from the version passed by the National Assembly and signed by the President, without the knowledge of either arm of government.
Nami criticised calls by some groups for protests against the government, arguing that such actions were misplaced given that the executive and legislature may not have been involved in the alleged misconduct. He noted that the calls come at a time when the country is grappling with insecurity, budget deficits, and rising public debt.
He also questioned demands for stakeholder consultations on what he described as a “criminally and arbitrarily altered” document, warning against discarding years of legislative and policy work on tax reforms initiated by the National Assembly in 2022.
Referring to findings attributed to a National Assembly committee reviewing the alleged alterations, Nami said preliminary reports indicate that substantive provisions were inserted, deleted, or modified after passage by both chambers.
He added that several oversight and accountability mechanisms approved by lawmakers were allegedly removed, while new coercive fiscal powers appeared without legislative approval. “These changes cannot be classified as clerical or editorial corrections. They are deplorable,” he said.
