Tax Reform Have Come to Stay- Tinubu

President Bola Tinubu has stated that his administration’s tax reforms have come to stay.

The Nigerian leader stated this on Monday night while speaking during his first presidential media chat in Lagos State.

The tax reform bills, which are before the National Assembly, have generated controversies and met push back especially from the Northern leaders, forcing the lawmakers to initiate consultation.

The bills comprise the Nigeria Tax Bill, Nigeria Tax Administration Bill, Nigeria Revenue Service Establishment Bill, and the Joint Revenue Board Establishment Bill.

He equally said he was not prepared to cut down on his cabinet, describing each of his cabinet members as being sacrosanct to the delivery of his economic and social policies.

Reacting to the stampede for food, which resulted in the death of some Nigerians, Tinubu said it was most regrettable, especially when some citizens cannot obey simple instructions to be organised.

He lamented that ordinary queuing up at bus stations to board vehicles, Nigerians still show their disorganisation.

The president equally enjoined philanthropists to be cautious while giving out arms, especially when they do not have enough to go round.

According to him, the country can adopt the food bank system just like in the United Kingdom.

“Tax reforms are here to stay, we cannot just continue to do what we have been doing in yester years in today’s economy”, he said.

On the prompting from some quarters to reduce the size of his cabinet as a means of cutting down the cost of governance, Tinubu said, “I am not prepared to bring down the size of my cabinet. I saw the need when I put them there, let’s pay attention to efficiency, effectiveness, I am not ready to reduce them because I need them to succeed”.

On the controversies surrounding the fuel subsidy removal, Tinubu said Nigerians were living in deception, as the subsidy payments were tantamount to spending the future now without any corresponding investments to back it up.

“We were spending our future, we were spending our generations future, we were not investing, we were just deceiving ourselves. That reform was necessary, those fighting back does not affect me, why should you have expenditures that you do not have revenue for. We should teach management with all our programmes, we have to learn how to manage our resources, I don’t have any regret whatsoever in removing subsidy, it is very necessary”, he said.