By Abimbola Ogunnaike
Cross Rivers State Governor, Prince Bassey Otu, has commended the efforts of President Bola Tinubu to sanitise Nigeria’s oil sector since his assumption of office about a month ago.
Otu, who stated this while speaking in his office in Calabar, the state capital, said Tinubu saw the need to sanitize the oil sector and deemed it necessary to remove fuel subsidy.
The Governor promised that Nigerians will see the long-term benefits of the subsidy removal.
According to him, he began campaigning for the removal of fuel subsidy in 2003 because seeing as it created many briefcase millionaires, who do not work for anything but sit in the comfort of their homes to become millionaires.
Otu said Cross River has to synergize so that whatever palliatives are put in place will be such that will mitigate and ameliorate the sufferings of the people.
“I know that each state has its own peculiarity that is why we need to synergize so that whatever palliatives that will come, we too will benefit.”
The Governor also spoke about salary increments but wondered what effects such salary raise will have given the spiral inflation in the country.
“I know that some states have proposed salary increments which I am not against but my problem is the value such increments will have in the economy considering the fact those goods and services have already skyrocketed because of the fuel hike occasioned by subsidy removal.
“So, we need to properly work out a system that will be beneficial to all the citizenry, not only the civil servants because everyone bears this brunt,” the Governor said.
He appealed to the people to endure the current socioeconomic pains as the government was fashioning out ways to mitigate the situation.
“We have to endure this pain for us to correct the error as well as build a sustainable economy for posterity,” Otu stated.
