Fuel Subsidy: Give Tinubu Bit Of Time, Gov Sani Tells Nigerians

By Sola Omoniyi, Lagos

Amid the pain caused by the fuel subsidy removal, Governor Uba Sani has pleaded with Nigerians to be patient with President Bola Tinubu’s government.

He made the call to Newsmen on Thursday. According to him, the President and the governors are taking preventative measures and adopting an approach to lessen the impact of the fuel subsidy removal.

“I agree, there was a fuel subsidy but because of the level of corruption involved, it has never moved Nigeria forward and of course, in fighting corruption, you have to believe that corruption will fight you back.

“I am going to urge the Nigerian Labour Congress, TUC, and all other trade union leaders to give President Asiwaju a bit of time; he has good plans, and we, the governors, have good plans for everyone. So, we have to be very careful in the way we approach these issues so that we don’t make promises that we can’t fulfil,” he said.

The NLC, TUC, and all labour unions, according to Sani, are fully involved in what the government is doing and are aware of the challenges the nation is facing.

“We, as the governor, have been taken by the level unions at the state levels. Mr President is someone who believes in making sure he carries everyone along.

“The approach here is to look at this issue from a bigger picture and that is what President Asiwaju is doing, and I have no doubt in my mind,” he said.

The governor added that the most marginalised people in society ought to be allowed to participate in labour agreement decision-making.

“When we are looking at how we solve this problem of fuel subsidy and how it affects the economy of the people generally, we have to talk about people that can be on the table.

“I am talking about people that are vulnerable, underserved, the market women, the farmers, people living with disabilities – they are also affected; they go to the same markets; they use the same transportation; and they constitute about 90 per cent of the population,” he stated.

According to him, we must consider everyone as a whole for the nation to resolve this issue.

The National Economic Council (NEC) earlier on Thursday urged the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) to shelve their planned industrial action.