Kwara State governor and chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, has said the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led federal government opted for the fuel subsidy removal as a lesser evil to other policies that were considered to redirect the country’s economy.

Speaking at a stakeholders’ meeting in Ilọrin, the state capital, the governor said the other option considered by the federal government was large-scale currency printing to fund the subsidy regime.

“The (subsidy) policy was the lesser evil open to the federal government. Other options such as printing new currency on a large scale to fund fuel subsidy would crumble the economy and subject the people to greater harm,” AbdulRazaq added.

While urging patience, the governor said they were working with the federal government to ease the temporary pains occasioned by the removal of the subsidy.

“Very soon, things will normalise, and we will be better for it,” he said. He said Tinubu had advised all states to go ahead and look at ways of mitigating the effects of the subsidy removal until the labour and federal government would reach an agreement on the new minimum wage.

“That’s why we rolled out new palliatives which include N10,000 transport allowance for workers. There will be food distribution, among several other interventions.

“The former CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, had bought a lot of fertilizers and maize which the federal government will now sell to the state governments for onward passage to the public,” AbdulRazaq added. He said the government would concentrate more funding on welfare programmes to keep the economy going and help people to cope, adding that it will “slow down on other things that do not specifically address this need”.

helinues:
Let all those who are hoarding the Naira should release it

Na somewhere/ someplaces election money go now

IconicR:
Obi lawyers are buying mansions in Abuja and other things. Emefiele should continue to be in detention, he's the major cause of what Nigeria is currently going through

helinues:


Obi no dey give shish now , not even the lawyers.

All na free service.

IconicR:
You know nothing about that deceitful man, Aisha and his lawyers are now very rich, they are all buying properties in Abuja. I don't know what on earth will ever make me see him as a messiah, I know him too well more than most people shouting all over social media giving him the underserved hype. That man ruined Anambra to pieces

BoldBrainz:
Shonubi has just removed the rug from under the feet of his employer.

The week Tinubu made the pronouncement of currency liberalisation, he specifically spoke on the unification of exchange rates between the open market and the official FX window. He sounded so cock-screw certain of the terminologies he was reeling out that his minions were applauding with gusto.

Couple of weeks down the line, the disparity in rates between the open market and the FX window is spiralling out of control to the point these clueless people are already dipping hands into the external reserve just to keep up with the FX demands of the market. So, not only are prices of basic necessities blowing through the roof, our reserves have lost over a billion dollars in the space of 2 months.

You cannot seek to put control over the spread or usage of a currency you do not produce, especially in an economy that depends on that very currency. I am not an economist from Chicago University, neither am I in an acting capacity at the CBN, but I have the intelligence to read and study situations and the common sense to acknowledge the truth of a situation.

If the Nigerian economy doesn't crumble in six months, going along this particular trajectory, then I'll know my education was a waste.

helinues:


Wrong perception. Even though Peter Obi might not have performed well when he was Anambra state governor but he did wonderful well when he relocated to Pluto and develop the planet.

One can't make inter solar journey and governed well without becoming a saint. Those are the qualities his supporters saw in him. He was sent to come and finish what he started in Anambra state in Nigeria.

IconicR:
I don't know how else to pacify Nigerians, I have been assuring them that things will normalize soon but these third position mandate claim people will not even listen. Same subsidy that obi swore to remove immediately he gets in(dreams) . let's be patient and I pray minimum wage be increased soon as planned and private sector sanctioned as well.

helinues:


Wrong perception. Even though Peter Obi might not have performed well when he was Anambra state governor but he did wonderful well when he relocated to Pluto and develop the planet.

One can't make inter solar journey and governed well without becoming a saint. Those are the qualities his supporters saw in him. He was sent to come and finish what he started in Anambra state in Nigeria.

OkpaNsukkaisBae:
Yet the national assembly members were given #70b to share while the masses were told to cut cost.