Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has appealed to the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to shelve its planned nationwide strike to protest the fuel subsidy removal, asserting that the “strike will not resolve anything” and that the strike is ill-timed.

“It won’t address the issue. The point should be how to ensure a sustained turnaround in our economy,” noted the Lagos governor. “The president mentioned better ways, and we started that in Lagos in January, and I hope other states can key into it. We don’t need to wait for the national government. We just need to reflect on what the challenges are in the country and seek ways to resolve them.”

He also reminded the NLC that President Bola Tinubu had just assumed office and should cut him some slack.

“The president has not even spent one week in office. We need to be very patient and reason together. Let us not make the issue about politics, but let’s support this man. We should allow him (to) go and reflect,” the governor told journalists after a post-inauguration thanksgiving service at the Cathedral Church of Christ, Marina, stressing that “this is not the time to go on strike.”

Mr Sanwo-Olu suggested that there was more than meets the eye in NLC’s plan to go on strike Wednesday. 

“This is not the time to go on strike. Recall that all presidential candidates said the first thing they would do is remove fuel subsidy. So, what has changed?” the Lagos governor pointed out. “What has President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said or done that is different from what others would have done?”

The thanksgiving service signified the end of activities to mark the governor’s second term inauguration.

His wife, Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat and the wife, Oluremi Hamzat, were also at the event.

(NAN)