Abstract
Nigeria as a hydrocarbon nation have massively benefitted from the operations of petroleum companies and allied activities in terms of revenue through taxes. Since its discovery in Nigeria, petroleum has been the most dominant of Nigeria’s natural resources in terms of revenue generation. This feat has been achieved overtime through a combination of different tax laws that constitutes the tax regime in the petroleum industry. Notwithstanding the enactment of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, with the principal objective of streamlining the fiscal framework of petroleum taxation, a taxpayer still requires to navigate through multiple tax legislations to ensure full compliance in the sector. However, the emergence of Nigerian Tax Reform Acts, 2025 marks a landmark reform that consolidates, simplifies, and modernizes Nigeria’s tax landscape in the petroleum sector with the tax laws set to taking effect, on 1st January, 2026. This article therefore examined the different laws constituting the current tax regimes in the Nigerian Petroleum industry towards determining the implications of the repealing, amendment, consolidation and/or unification of these petroleum taxes applicable in the varying streams of petroleum operations in a single legislation known as the Nigeria Tax Act, 2025. The doctrinal research method was adopted in conducting this research whereby both primary and secondary sources of information were relied on. It found that the overarching objective of the Nigeria Tax Act divests PIA of its position as a principal legislation for petroleum taxation. It concluded that the unification of the multiple tax laws has the propensity of promoting consistency, reducing ambiguity in tax interpretation and enforcement, and aiding overall compliance by taxpayers in the petroleum sector. The researcher recommended that while stakeholders await the gazetted versions of the new laws, they should prioritize being abreast of the revised compliance requirements to foster awareness and preparedness.
Chika Mgbokwere Mba, pp 44 – 59
