By: Òtuńba Òláídé Ęmíolá Òshífęsò.
At the stakeholders meeting of the Ogun State leaders comprising the traditional rulers, captains of industries, political elites, leading technocrats and bureaucrats, youth leaders etc organized by the State government held at the Ogun State Cultural Center at Kuto, Abeokuta on 21st February 2024, a plea and assurance of good times ahead was issued by Governor Dapo Abiodun to the Ogun public.
Governor Dapo Abiodun expressed his displeasure with the state of the nation at the time that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu took the reins of Nigeria’s leadership. He cited the monumental challenges that the new federal government inherited from its predecessor.
The Governor lamented the scorching hyperinflationary trend in the staple foods market, in addition to general merchandises bedeviled with random and arbitrary price deregulation that reduces the citizenry’s purchasing power rendering affordability to extremely low level.
Governor Dapo Abiodun mentioned some corrective measures that All Progressive Congress-APC federal government has been ensuring as palliative to the national citizenry.
Among the immediate corrective measures are fuel subsidy removal aimed at improving the government capacity to intervene and curtail arbitrary waste of fund that negatively impact the national economy and increases the debt volume of government needlessly.
Free access to foreign exchange is enabled to the needy industrialists to procure the necessary machineries, goods and raw materials with a view to ensuring regular production capacities are met. The foreign exchange is strictly controlled away from the frivolous exchanges that lead to resale to the public at ridiculous rate likened to sharp practices.
Governor Dapo Abiodun revealed that President Tinubu has directed all the incumbent States Governors to appease their respective State’s public
The federal government’s directives further include the sabotage attempts by unscrupulous citizens of this country to derail the efforts of the federal government to ameliorate the unwarranted hardship designed to ridicule and stall the meticulously planned and executed programmes to improve the peoples of Nigeria towards greater nationhood.
The saboteurs are noted to sponsor hate speeches against the government and they mobilise innocent citizens to indulge in needless protests around the country over their evil perpetrations nationwide. The saboteurs are aware that there are no quick fixes to the inherited challenges but elect to do more damage than to join hands with the government to raise the fallen country from the dust.
The federal government assures the public nationwide in its resolutions to improve the general situation that laudable solutions are underway to eliminate the hardships but the public must be patient to allow the completion of the projects being implemented.
The Central Bank Governor too lent his voice to redress the foreign exchange arbitrary hoarding and rates hike at the black market. He promised to join forces with the law enforcement agents of the government in useful capacity to ensure the crash of the foreign exchange at the deregulated market.
Governor Dapo Abiodun elucidates his administration’s brilliant plans reached at the Ogun State’s stakeholders meeting to part the following benefits to Ogun Indigenes:
*All higher institutions’ students that are Ogun State Indigenes will be granted N50,000 as palliative to their tuition fee.
All higher institutions’ students that are Ogun State Indigenes will be granted N50,000 as palliative to their tuition fee.
*All primary and secondary school students within Ogun state will be given N10,000 each
*The primary and secondary school students will be given at least five exercise books.
*The most senior Ogun Indigenes of both genders would derive Free Health Care benefits from the government’s health institutions state-wide.
*The pregnant women would also derive free medical care and be given N5,000 upon the delivery of their pregnancy.
*Of the owed N6 billion to the workers in unpaid deductions, immediate disbursement of N500million commencing from February 2024 will be issued to the owed civil workers.
*The government will not relent in its payment of N10,000 transportation fare support to each civil worker across the State spanning over 8 months now.
* The government will take delivery of 100 truckloads of rice on Thursday 22nd February 2024. Free share of the rice will be given to the aged and the poor. The rest will be sold at controlled price to the public.
* The Ogun State government is launching electric
tricycles and bikes to reduce transportation fare by half the current fares.
In conclusion Governor Dapo Abiodun pleads with the Ogun State public to expect the success of the palliative delivery while the government works assiduously to repair the damaged economy that it inherited at the federal level.
Otunba Òláìdé Ęmíòlà Òshífęsò
Ex-Executive Chairman of Ìjębu North Local Government,
Ògùn state.
