The Accord Party in Lagos State on Saturday advised Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu not to carry out the planned removal of the 25 per cent discount on public transport services in the state.

The Lagos State chairman of the party, Dele Oladeji, made the plea in an interview with journalists in Lagos.

Mr Oladeji said that residents still find it difficult to survive the economic hardship occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy hence the need for the government to sustain the public transport discount.

He said that the palliative put in place by Mr Sanwo-Olu in the wake of the Federal Government’s removal of subsidies on fuel had gone a long way in alleviating the suffering of the masses.

According to him, the initiative has lessened the pains of not only workers whose ‘take home could not take them home’ but also artisans, traders and ordinary residents.

“It is our strong opinion that Mr Sanwo-Olu will be unfair to Lagos residents to remove the meagre 25 per cent palliative discount on transportation on the government’s own transportation systems like BRT, Lag ferry, and blue light rail. In Accord, we reject the removal of this meagre 25 per cent palliative discount on transportation,” the chieftain said.

Rather than removing the existing one, the governor should consider more palliatives in other sectors to make life abundant for all and sundry.

“Governance is about the security and welfare of the people. Those at the helm of affairs should be seen showing empathy to the masses at this time when men’s hearts are failing. We are here again for the umpteenth time to demand more palliative discounts for Lagos residents on health care, tuition fees in all tertiary institutions owned by Lagos State, and on Eko rice. This palliative is the only way Mr Sanwo-Olu can prove his commitment to his T.H.E.M.E. campaign template.

“Campaign and elections are over; these are the times to put his words into action and not abandon Lagos residents to ill fates,” he said.

The Lagos State government has said that it will end the 25 per cent discount on state-owned transport services on Sunday.

In a statement on Friday, Kolawole Ojelabi, Head of Corporate Communication, Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), said the state-owned transport services would return to 100 per cent fares on Monday.

“The 25 per cent rebate on regulated public transport buses, ferries, and trains ends on Sunday, January 28, 2024. From Monday, January 29, 2024, transport fares on regulated transport services return to 100 per cent,” the statement read.

On July 31, 2023, Mr Sanwo-Olu announced a 50 per cent reduction in the fares charged by all state-owned transport services.

Mr Sanwo-Olu had said the move was part of the palliatives rolled out by the state government to cushion the effects of the petrol subsidy removal and the attendant hike in the prices of commodities.

The price of petrol had soared after President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of petrol subsidy in his May 29, 2023, inauguration address. 

(NAN)