Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq has called on the people of Kwara state to be patient with the federal government as efforts are being made to shore up the naira and deaden food crisis.
The governor made the call yesterday in a meeting with the trade unions, transport workers, artisans, student leaders, and market women in Ilorin.
In the meeting, AbdulRazaq promised to distribute grains and release more buses to ease transport problems as well as mollify food crisis.
In a statement by the Chief Press Secretary, Rafiu Ajekaye, on Wednesday, the governor was said to have held a meeting in different sessions. The hours-long engagements involved labor union chiefs, transport sector leaders, artisans, the leadership of the market unions, and students drawn from varying backgrounds in the state to brief them on the efforts done so far to cushion the effect of the food crisis and the Naira free fall.
“You will observe that due to the removal of fuel subsidies and the steps taken on foreign exchange by the federal government, there is inflation in the country. The government is working hard to address the resultant challenges,” the governor stated at the meeting.
The governor further disclosed that the government is immediately working to lower the cost of key staple foods by releasing grains from the strategic reserve and distributing them to the people at intervals.
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Acknowledging the spike in inflation, the governor urged the people to be patient, adding that the government’s investments in gas-powered vehicles will soon manifest when the vehicles are eventually distributed in the coming months.
“We shall commence the distribution of the vehicles from the University of Ilorin campus and later to the other campuses,” Abdulrazaq stated.
He also commended Kwara State University for its initiative on gas-powered vehicles, which he said the government would continue to support in the future.
“The state government will soon deploy more vehicles to different parts of the state to support people’s movements, especially students who come from different homes, while grains will soon be distributed to the people as a form of support,” he assured.
In their respective remarks, the State Chairman for the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Comrade Joseph Tunde Meshach, and that of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Saheed Olayinka, as well as the NUT representative, commended the Governor for making the welfare of workers a priority and for the ongoing efforts to relieve the pains of fuel subsidy removal.
Meshach lauded the government’s decision to upgrade Kwara Hotel to the standard that it deserves, saying the facility occupies a strategic place and deserves the top-notch upgrade the government is giving it.
“On the issue of Kwara Hotel workers, we thank Your Excellency very much for paying their (workers’) salary as and when due. We also want to congratulate you on the work being done on the Kwara Hotel in order to give us a more befitting one,” the TUC Chairman said, acknowledging the open-door policy of the administration with the labor movement.
Olayinka, for his part, said AbdulRazaq was the first governor to introduce palliative as a means of reducing the burden affecting the common man, especially the fixed-income earners, saying such was commendable.
The labor leaders said they want more to be done for the workers nonetheless, urging the governor to sustain the pace.
