Vice President Kashim Shettima has assured Nigerians that the ongoing tax reforms by the Federal Government are designed to improve livelihoods and reduce poverty, not to further burden citizens as claimed by critics.
Speaking on Wednesday in Abuja at an interfaith breaking of fast for Ramadan and Lent at the State House, Shettima said the reforms would eliminate multiple taxes and levies that have long weighed heavily on small businesses and low-income earners.
The Vice President represented President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the event, which was attended by members of the Federal Executive Council, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, presidential advisers, senior government officials, and heads of agencies and parastatals.
According to him, the design and implementation of the tax reforms were carefully structured to ease the financial pressure on Nigerians while improving government revenue and economic efficiency.
He dismissed claims by critics that the reforms would worsen hardship for citizens, urging government officials and stakeholders to actively educate Nigerians about the policies.
“The same people who are shouting hoarse that the tax reform is meant to pulverise and pauperise the poor are far from the truth,” Shettima said.
“We have to go out and tell the truth to the people. We have to educate them. We have to mount the pulpits and take our government to the Nigerian people and tell them the truth.”
Shettima also highlighted key outcomes of the administration’s broader economic reforms, including improvements in Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves, the unification of exchange rates, and the removal of fuel subsidy, which he said had disproportionately benefited a few individuals for many years.
He commended President Tinubu for demonstrating the political will to address structural economic challenges that previous administrations had avoided.
The Vice President noted that although the removal of the fuel subsidy was not mentioned in the President’s 2023 inaugural speech, the administration took the difficult decision because the policy had become unsustainable and was draining national resources needed for development.
“Three years down the road, the economy has bounced back,” he said.
Shettima thanked government officials for their support of the administration’s reform agenda and urged them to remain proactive in communicating the government’s achievements to Nigerians while countering misinformation from opposition groups.
