July 02, (THEWILL) – A chieftain of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), in Ogun State, Ambassador Olufemi Ajadi Oguntoyinbo, has urged the federal government to channel money that should have gone into fuel subsidy payments, to improving citizens’ welfare.
This, he said, is the only way to justify the removal in the first place, and also demonstrate the government’s genuine interest in the socio-economic condition of the Nigerian people.
Ajadi, who commended the government for the courage in touching the subsidy, said it should not stop there, but go ahead to ensuring that other areas of pain for the masses of the country were addressed.
He mentioned as example, social amenities like good roads, electricity and pipe-borne water, saying there was no reason for these to continue to be issues in the country now that the government would be saving a huge amount of money through stoppage of subsidy payments.
The politician, who issued a release to the effect on Sunday, added that sectors like education, health and housing, should equally be of concern to the government and that their availability should not be taken for granted in the country.
“While I commend President Tinubu for the bold step in removing subsidy payments, he should do more than that by ensuring that the larger Nigerian society feel the impact of the removal.
“He should pilot the saved money to other areas of need so that the masses of the country could feel the impact of governance. Such areas include electricity, roads and general cost of living.
“Also government has just announced that from next month, private and commercial motorists are to pay N1,000 fee for proof of ownership certificates.
“Hitherto, the document was issued for free to buyers of new vehicles by the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).
“While the citizens go through all these pains, there is the need to cushion the effects of hardship through provision of palliatives.
“Let all these increment be channelled to Citizenship Benefits, Private Public Housing Mortgage Project for benefit of downtrodden, provision of qualitative education, improved health facilities and other infrastructure development.”
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.
