Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, said he is shocked over the Federal Government’s inability to plan and effectively respond to the fuel subsidy removal policy that has further improvised Nigerians, inflicting hardship and suffering on the people.
    
Obaseki, while speaking to journalists in Benin City, said he raised the alarm, following the mismanagement of the nation’s economy, noting that the country’s situation is taking a turn for the worse as a result of bad policies by the government at the centre.
     
The governor said: “I have always warned. I warned Nigerians during the last May Day this year. I told them that we have come to the end of the road, and that the old economic order in Nigeria is gone. We have to come up with a new economic order and stop deceiving ourselves as a nation.
    
“Now, the subsidy is gone; the exchange rate is being aligned. The era of free money has almost come to an end. The consequence is that the weakest and most vulnerable in our society will carry a huge part of the burden of these policies.
   
“I am shocked that people who campaigned around the country, saying that they will remove subsidies, had no clear plans on what to do after subsidy removal. They don’t know what to do and how to support those who will be victims of the removal.
 
“I am scared of what we are passing through today where the government doesn’t seem to have a plan or solution on how to respond to the consequences of the policy.”  
  
Obaseki added that with the way the economy has been mismanaged, Nigerians would have to deal with inflation, which is hovering between 20 and 25 per cent. According to him, this means that the people will feel more pain, especially the weak and vulnerable in the society, particularly our pensioners, as whatever they get as their entitlement will only do little for them.
  
Reaffirming his government’s commitment to the welfare and well-being of Edo people, the governor said: “For us in Edo, we would not abandon you. We don’t like the word palliative, because it is deceitful, as we would rather use the word ‘support.’ We would support those who are already victims of this policy measure.”