The National Orientation Agency said poverty would increase if the petrol subsidy is returned.
EKO HOT BLOG reports that the Director-General of the National Orientation Agency, NOA, Lanre Issa-Onilu, on Wednesday, urged Nigerians to map out survival strategies amid the economic fallout of the removal of petrol subsidy by the President Bola Tinubu administration.
EDITOR’S PICK:
Issa-Onilu, a former spokesman for the President’s ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), said poverty will worsen if petrol subsidy is returned, as being demanded by #EndBadGovernance protesters in the last week.
“Anybody who is making a demand that subsidy removal should be brought back is making an emotional demand, not an economic demand because you have to also prove that if it is brought back, it will solve the issue of poverty; it will not, it will aggravate it,” Issa-Onilu said.
“So, what we should be doing is: How do we survive in spite of the removal?’ We need to promote all the efforts of this government to ensure that we survive without that subsidy.”
He also admitted the trust deficit between leaders and followers in the country due to repeated cases of broken promises over the years.
“It is difficult to talk to a people who have for several years been let down. Nigerians feel let down. The first question they ask you is: ‘Is this another promise that will not be kept?’ So, we must prove to Nigerians that this government is keeping to its promises,” he said.
On Sunday, President Bola Tinubu ruled out the return of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) famously known as petrol.
FURTHER READING
- NCC Limits Telecom Operators To Seven Tariff Plans
- Junior Pope: AGN Lifts Suspension on Adanma Luke, Ban on Riverine Filming
- Protester Assaulted, Stripped Naked By Hoodlum During Protest
During a broadcast to over 200 million Nigerians after days of unbroken nationwide #EndBadGovernance protests against economic hardship, the President said the removal of subsidy on petrol was a painful but necessary decision he took for economic reforms.
The return of petrol subsidy has been one of the very clear demands of young Nigerians who took to the streets since Thursday to protest the economic woes confronting the country.
The President announced the removal of petrol subsidy during his inaugural speech as President on May 29, 2023.
CLICK TO WATCH OUR VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Advertise or Publish a Story on EkoHot Blog:
Kindly contact us at [email protected]. Breaking stories should be sent to the above email and substantiated with pictorial evidence.
Citizen journalists will receive a token as data incentive.
Call or Whatsapp: 0803 561 7233, 0703 414 5611
