Adams Oshiomhole, the former governor of Edo State, has expressed his confidence in the Federal Government concerning the issues arising from the removal of fuel subsidy that it will be quickly resolved and that there is a plan to cushion the effect on Nigerians.
On Sunday, a federal government delegation, which he was part of, held a meeting with representatives of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) at the presidential villa in Abuja.
Dele Alake, spokesperson for the government’s delegation, said the demands of the union to cushion the effect of subsidy removal include an increase in the minimum wage and tax holidays for certain categories of people.
Oshiomole, who spoke in an interview after the meeting, said:
“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.
“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 wage increase,” he added.
