Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun on Wednesday urged Nigerians to be more patient with President Bola Tinubu’s administration, saying they will soon begin to see his reforms’ positive outcome.
The governor made the appeal while speaking with journalists shortly after this year’s Eid-el-Kabir prayers at the Lantoro praying ground in Abeokuta, Ogun.
Abiodun, who was represented by Sen. Shuaib Salisu (Ogun Central – APC), said more funds would be available to the Federal Government to address Nigerians’ needs with the removal of fuel subsidy.
“Nigerians need to be patient with President Tinubu over the removal of fuel subsidy. The hardship being experienced now is temporary.
“The fuel subsidy had to be removed for Nigeria’s economy to survive, because corruption in the fuel subsidy regime had cost Nigeria a huge amount of revenue, and millions of Nigerians were not benefiting from it,” he said.
The governor urged Nigerians to be more understanding and support the current reforms in critical sectors of the nation’s economy, just as he promised that better days are ahead for Nigerians.
“I want to assure Nigerians that the current administration, both at the state and national levels, will significantly improve a lot of things in the country.
“When the leadership is provided, the challenges of Nigeria are not unsurmountable. There is nothing that can be achieved without some pains.
“On the issue of fuel subsidy, you can see for instance that smuggling has gone down… because fuel subsidy is not being enjoyed by Nigerians.
”More money will now be in the pockets of the Federal Government in order to be able to take care of the masses.
“Every good thing will come with some little pain. But what is important is that you can see a clear direction, that Bola Tinubu is providing the leadership as President and by providing that leadership every other thing will fall into place.
“So there is no better time to make those difficult but very necessary decisions. In another six months or one year, we will begin to see the benefits,” he said.
Speaking also on the issue of the unification of the exchange rate, Gov. Abiodun stated that a small number of people were benefiting from unnecessary brokerage.
”They buy the dollar at N400 or N420 and they go and sell it in the open market. The average Nigerian is not benefitting from that,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Chief Imam at the praying ground, Saad Bamgbola who led the prayers session, used the occasion to admonish Muslim faithful of their obligations to their God.
“You must continue to shun all acts that can bring the religion into disrepute,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Muslim faithful in Abeokuta in a large number joined others across the world to observe the Eid prayers at the ground.