Group urges governors to reduce working days for workers

A civil society group, Congress for Rights Of Yoruba Nationalities (CROYN), has urged other state governors to emulate Kwara and Edo state governors, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq and Godwin Obaseki, who have reduced working days in their states to three, as one of the immediate measures to reduce the hardship resulting from fuel subsidy removal.

The group, in a statement by its National President, Abiodun Fanoro, described as “pragmatic, pro-active and pro-people the decision of both governors on nationwide state of emergency Nigerians are facing owing to the sudden removal of petrol subsidy.”

CROYN noted that since subsidy removal was one decision that all the 36 governors and the Federal Government agreed on, it became imperative for all the governors to rally round the central government by rolling out palliatives within their reach as demonstrated by Kwara and Edo states, to ensure overall success of the policy.

The group, while justifying the step taken by the two governors and why it should be adopted by the remaining 34 state governors and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), said emergency like the sudden removal of petrol subsidy requires equal or higher emergency measures such as the one taken by the two governors.

It added that the situation on ground was akin to the challenges the country faced during COVID-19.

The group recalled that during Covid 19, working days were reduced acrosse the country and across all sectors, including the private sector, where in some acute moments, only senior and essential workers came to work, yet work did not suffer.and the country did not collapse. It called for immediate resuscitation of on-line working arrangement worked out and adopted during Covid 19, where essential job ad services could be rendered from home without stagnating or jeopardizing the economy, stressing that the same on-line services should be arranged for students, especially those in tertiary institutions to reduce transportation hardship for students and lecturers.

CROYN which mourned the complete failure of good and effective governance at the local government level across the country, challenged those at helms of affaurs at this tier of administration to follow the steps being taken by both federal and state governments to roll out measures and policies capable of cushioning the hash effects of the new patrol policy.

It urged work benefitting from the reduction in working days to turn it to advantages for themselves and the economy by using the off-days for productive ventures like agriculture, trading or such other commercial ventures that could earn them money, more food on their tables and more foodstuff in market places.