A former governor of Edo state and an ex-labour leader, Adams Oshiomhole has assured Nigerians that President Bola Tinubu will waste no time in cushioning the effects of the fuel subsidy removal on the Nigerian populace.
has an immediate solution to cushion the consequential effect of the subsidy removal.
Oshiomole, who stated this while speaking in an interview with Channels Television’s “Sunday Politics,” on Sunday, said the president himself is aware of what people are going through due to the new development.
The former Labour leader, however, expressed confidence that issues arising from the removal of fuel subsidies will be quickly resolved between the Federal Government and organized labour.
He restated that, Mr Tinubu acknowledges the impact the withdrawal of fuel subsidy is having on Nigerians and is determined to take immediate action to cushion it.
“This president recognizes that the effect of the withdrawal is already here, people are already going through some level of discomfort and therefore there has to be an immediate solution to it.
“Now that immediate solution is what we discussed and the fact that we are meeting on Tuesday again shows that clearly, we realize that this is not one of those things you want to buy time because it has a real negative impact, on particularly, the most vulnerable group.
“But we have a solution to it because you are going to make savings, so take from that savings or even if it is borrowing.
“So, whatever it is, you can leverage some revenue and improve wages to cushion the cost of living, I think it is legitimate, I think it is doable, it is not something that you want to spend two to three months negotiating,” he stated.
The former chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, who was also part of a meeting between the Federal Government and the Trade Union Congress on Sunday, disclosed that the meeting was productive, adding that the government will consider all the demands by the TUC and revert on Tuesday.
According to him, if Nigeria can save about N7 trillion by ending subsidies, the Federal Government can take part of that money and put it into the wage sector.
“This is possible because those savings will go into the federation account which will be distributed among the three tiers of government and so every tier of government will have more money and should be able to meet the consequential increase in wages,” he analysed.