Dapo Abiodun pleads with Nigerians to endure pains of subsidy removal

…Meets with Obasanjo in closed door

By Bankole Taiwo, Abeokuta

Ogun state governor, Dapo Abiodun has beckoned on Nigerians to endure the pains of subsidy removal.

Recall that the Federal Government had announced an end to the payment of subsidies on Petrol in June leading to several hardships and reactionary impacts on the economy.

However emerging from a closed door meeting with former President Olusegun Obasanjo at the former President’s residence in Abeokuta, the state capital, the Governor while speaking on fuel subsidy removal assured Nigerians that, the government would put into better use the gains of subsidy removal to revamp the economy of the country.

“We all know that the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration started with a bang. On 29th of May, he reeled out a few initiatives, one of the most laudable of those initiatives was his decision to remove subsidy on petroleum products.

“As controversial as that initiative has been, no one can deny the fact that it was a very welcome initiative. That was a subsidy that Nigeria could no longer afford, it was a subsidy that was not in the budget beyond June 2023.

“More importantly, it was costing Nigeria about N4trillion per annum, N4trillion that Nigeria did not have, that we have had to borrow, that could be better expended to other uses that the common man can feel, so it was a very right decision.

“Of course, it was a decision that also came with a bit of pain, but like they say, there is no gain without some pain,” Abiodun said.

He urged Nigerians to endure the hardship of increasing fuel price, saying the benefits of the subsidy removal outweigh the pain.

The Governor said, his administration had rolled out a series of palliatives for civil servants, pensioners and the people of the state to cushion the effect of subsidy removal.

Part of palliatives included the approval for the payment of N10,000 cash for each public servants and pensioners in the state.

The government also approved payment of hazard allowance for all health and medical personnel in the State, adding that the implementation of the palliative would take effect from July.

Speaking on the palliatives, Abiodun said, “What you saw us announced for implementation in Ogun state yesterday (Monday) are part of the initiatives that the Federal government has designed for implementation at the various state levels.

“What we have just done is to immediately begin that implementation because as soon the President announced deregulation we had sat down with members of our labour unions – TUC, NLC and the JNC to discuss the different options that will be acceptable for all of us. So that allowed us to be able to fast track our own policies.

“We believe that these initiatives should immediately ameliorate the pain our people are feeling and I’m sure that you will see that other state governments are doing the same.”

Abiodun however, declined to reveal the details of his meeting with the former President to journalists, describing it as a private meeting.

“It is a private meeting. A son does not have to have any particular reason to come and see his father, so I have come to see our Baba and it is a private meeting,” Abiodun said.