Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has appealed to the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) not to politicise fuel subsidy removal.
Governor Sanwo-Olu made the plea on Sunday after a post-inauguration thanksgiving service, which took place at the Cathedral Church of Christ, as part of 11-day activities to mark the governor and his deputy’s second term inauguration.
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According to Governor Sanwo-Olu, who was accompanied by his wife Dr. Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat and his wife, Oluremi Hamzat, to the church service, which marked the end of activities lined up for the second term inauguration, going on strike will neither address nor resolve any issue.
He noted that all the presidential candidates in the last election said the first thing they would do was to remove fuel subsidy, saying that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had done nothing different from what others would have done.
This is not the time to go on strike. Recall that all presidential candidates said the first thing they will do is to remove fuel subsidy.
So what has changed? What has President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said or done that is different from what others would have done? The president has not even spent one week in office.
Governor Sanwo-Olu, therefore, enjoined the citizens to be very patient and reason together, cautioning against playing politics with the issue but supporting President Tinubu on the move.
We need to be very patient and reason together. Let us not make the issue about politics, but let’s support this man. We should allow him to go and reflect.
Strike will not resolve anything; it won’t address the issue. The point should be how to ensure a sustained turnaround in our economy. The president mentioned better ways, and we started that in Lagos in January, and I hope other states can key into it. We don’t need to wait for the national government, we just need to reflect on what the challenges are in the country and seek ways to resolve them.
He added;
So I plead with the NLC not to turn the subsidy issue into a political one. The leadership should know they are leading people, and so there is a need to restrain themselves. Let us be patient and work with the president.
NNPC has said it has more than enough fuel to go round, so there is no need to heat up the polity. We should not get political because it is governance, and the people must see purposeful governance.
