Gov Dapo Abiodun
Ogun State governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, on Monday, 24th July, 2023, rolled out palliative measures to mitigate the hardships being experienced by the citizens on account of fuel subsidy removal.
Great Achiever Magazine reports that The Secretary to Ogun State Government, Tokunbo Talabi, in a release said, “In line with the current realities in the country and commitment of Ogun State Government to ameliorate the effects of removal of fuel subsidy on the well-being of good people of Ogun State, the Administration of His Excellency, Prince Dapo Abiodun, CON has approved the following measures for immediate implementation”.
The measures are listed below:
– Cash palliative of N10,000 for each public servant including pensioners to enable workers to cope with the economic shocks occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy for 3 months in the first instance with effect from July 2023.
– Approval of hazard allowance for all health and medical personnel in the State.
– Approval of peculiar allowance for public servants in the State.
– Immediate release of Letters of Promotion in respect of 2021 and 2022.
– Payment of March and April 2023 leave bonuses for public servants in the State.
– Immediate cash-backing for the quarterly payment of gratuities to pensioners.
– All Ministries, Departments and Agencies are to work out modalities of ensuring that 20% of their staff strengths are off-duty daily to ease the effect of the recent increase in fuel price among public servants.
– Commencement of food palliatives to the vulnerable (rice, garri, beans, maize etc).
– Furthermore, Gateway Trading Company has been directed to ensure the establishment of distribution outlets across the state, while items must be sold at the rate obtainable before the fuel price increase.
– Also, fertilizers and other farm inputs are to be supplied to farmers at subsidized and controlled prices.
– Other measures include the commencement of conversion of State Mass Transit buses to CNG including staff buses and current public transportation buses in circulation to reduce the cost of transportation by charging rates comparable to what was obtained before deregulation.
– Immediate Road Infrastructure Intervention, with all the local governments working with Community Development Associations and Community Leaders to submit three roads that require immediate intervention as part of the palliative programmes and support for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises through Special Schemes to boost production capacity and employment generation.
However, it was observed that no specific mention was made about palliative measures for tertiary institutions’ students in Ogun State who continued to suffer high cost of transportation and other needs in their respective institutions.
