PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu on Monday unequivocally responded to critics who described his cabinet as “bloated” by saying he is unprepared to reduce the size of his 48-man cabinet.
News Point Nigeria reports that the President stated this during the first presidential media chat aired by NTA on Monday.
“I am not ready to shrink” the size of my cabinet, Tinubu said during a media chat at his Bourdillon residence in the highbrow Ikoyi area of Lagos State.
The former Lagos governor argued that “efficiency” has been at the core of his selection of ministers.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) powerhouse also said he has no regret removing petrol subsidy in May 2023, saying Nigeria cannot continue to be Father Christmas to neighbouring countries.
“I don’t have any regrets whatsoever in removing petrol subsidy. We are spending our future, we were just deceiving ourselves, that reform was necessary,” he told reporters.
He said he made the swift decision to preserve Nigeria’s future and that of generation yet unborn.
Asked if he thought he should have phased the removal of the subsidy and floating of naira, Tinubu said, “Why should you have expenditure that you don’t have revenue to take care of. I don’t want to question people that drive limousines on the road.
“We should teach management in all our programmes. “There is no way we would give out fuel and allow all the entire neighbouring countries as father Christmas (to have our fuel). I don’t have any regret whatsoever removing the subsidy.”
On the tax reform, he said, “tax reform is here to stay; we cannot just continue to do what we were doing years to years in today’s economy. We cannot retool this economy with the old broken books, and I believe I have that capacity that is why I went into the race,” Tinubu said.
“I am focused on what Nigeria needs and what I must do for Nigeria, it is not just going to be eldorado for everybody, but the new dawn is here, I am convinced, and you should be convinced.”
On October 3, Tinubu forwarded four tax reform bills to the National Assembly.
The proposed Tax Reform Bills generated a lot of controversies since its introduction at the National Assembly, meeting serious resistant especially from the Northern part of the country.
Following the controversies the bills have generated, the National Economic Council had advised President Bola Tinubu to withdrawal the bills to allow for further consultations, but he had refused and said that the bills should go through the necessary legislative processes.
