The Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, on Friday, advised President Bola Tinubu to slow down on the implementation of drastic economic policies to avoid dislocating Nigeria’s economy.
CITN’s President, Samuel Agbeluyi, gave the advice while speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the 3rd Joint Council Retreat of CITN and the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria in Abuja.
He said, “We commend the government for starting on a good note by removing the fuel subsidy that has not helped anybody in the country. The removal of that wastage is a major step that this government has taken.
“We also commend the President for setting up a committee to reform the tax system in the country. But we would like to advise the government to be a little slow and not drastic in some of its decisions, for instance, the impact of the removal of subsidy leading to the current price of petrol is enormous on the citizens.
“In order not to make the shock too drastic, we may need to slow down in the introduction of other policies. I give an example, the planned increase in electricity tariff, if we add that to what is on ground right now, it will cause some dislocation to the system that may be difficult to handle,” he said.
According to him, “Tinubu started well and needs the support of everybody and we have applauded the initiatives of the government. But at this point, can we manage what we have introduced and slowly introduce other policies so that we won’t dislocate the system?”
Speaking on the need for palliatives, Agbeluyi said there should be adequate coordination in this regard, but opposed the distribution of cash to people.
He said, “CITN has been talking about this palliatives not just under this government. One thing is that the government needs to coordinate its policies and activities. If you want to have a cashless economy, the essence is to bring people into a net whereby you can have information about them. (Punch)