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Fuel subsidy removal: Gov Abiodun, Labour Leaders meet over palliatives

By Oluyemi Ogunseyin
08 June 2023   |   3:28 pm
Ogun State governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, has held a meeting with Labour Leaders on how they can create palliatives following the removal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit known as petrol.

Ogun State governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, presenting the 2022 appropriation bill to the Ogun State House of Assembly. Photo/FACEBOOK

Ogun State governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, has held a meeting with Labour Leaders on how they can create palliatives following the removal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit known as petrol.

Abiodun met with labour leaders in his office at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta on Wednesday to discuss how to cushion the hardship faced by the people of Ogun State due to the removal of fuel subsidy.

At the meeting, the governor admitted that the subsidy removal would have adverse effects on Nigerians, especially the disposable income earners.

Abiodun thereafter made a promise to look into ways of reducing the impact of the subsidy removal on the residents of the state.

“I called this meeting so that we can rub minds to find different options in view of the recently announced long-awaited deregulation of the Premium Motor Spirit otherwise known as petrol by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” he said.

“We are not, as a responsible administration, unmindful of the consequences that the regulation would cause in terms of its effect on the disposable income of the workers.

“We have noted that the price of Petrol is now N500 from slightly above N200. There is a relationship between the cost of PMS and transportation and the cost of transportation and the cost of goods and services.

“Since the announcement, as the governor and a player in the industry, I have been concerned about the multiplier effects as it would affect workers going to and from work and how it would affect their responsibilities and wellbeing,” Prince Abiodun noted.

Meanwhile, Abiodun was present on Wednesday when President Tinubu had a meeting with oil marketers in Abuja over the removal of subsidy on petrol.

Tinubu also directed the National Economic Council (NEC) led by Vice President Kashim Shettima to devise an approach and begin the process of working on interventions to mitigate the impact of subsidy removal on Nigerians.

Addressing correspondents after the meeting, Abiodun, who is a former chairman of the oil marketers association, stated that the marketers expressed solidarity with the President for removing the N4trn subsidy burden.

He said this is a move that can enhance the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) allocation to states.

The group of marketers subsequently announced their intention to donate to 50 to 100, fifty-seater mass transit buses that would run on CNG, costing N100m each and N10bn cumulatively, to cushion the effect of the removal within the next 30 days.

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