Subsidy removal: Lagos lawmaker urges Nigerians to endure pains

Mr Victor Akande, a Member of Lagos State House of Assembly representing APC-Ojo I, urges Nigerians to endure the pains of the recent announcement over subsidy removal by President Bola Tinubu.

Akande made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Thursday.

Supreme reports that Tinubu on May 29, 2023 announced the removal of subsidy during his inaugural speech at the Eagle Square, Abuja.

Following the announcement to discontinue petroleum subsidy, petrol pump prices immediately skyrocketed to over N700 from N195 per litre.

Akande, also the Chairman, House Committee on Judiciary, noted that there were lots of benefits that Nigerians would enjoy with the removal of subsidy after few months of the pains.

He said: “The removal of subsidy will look like a disaster and pain to us at the moment but tomorrow we shall all enjoy the benefits it will bring to us.

“Truly, the price has gone up but by the time things start to stabilise, the price will come down. In short, in the next six months, everything will start coming down.

“It will be good if the subsidy is channeled towards salary increment than using it to pay subsidy to few people. The cost implication will be lesser if the salary is increased.”

Akande stressed further that continuous payment of subsidy by this government was like enslaving Nigerians by some individuals who smiled to the bank at the expense of the masses.

He said President Tinubu knew the magnitude of the job before him which prompted him to say nobody should pity him.

The lawmaker said the president had the blueprint of what he wants to do and that was why he told Nigerians not to pity him because he asked for the job and he was ready to do it.

According to him, Tinubu is a man of his words and it is good that the subsidy has been removed because it is a fraudulent means of acquiring wealth to people that are involved.

Akande added that this was the right time to start paying the country’s debt rather than paying some individuals.