by Chi Ibe

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has explained why he opposed the strike called by the Nigeria Labour Congress and supported the federal government’s petrol price hike.

According to him, this is because the policy “is the difficult pain Nigerians must undergo before reaping the gains”.

According to him, this decision isn’t because he is no longer a labour leader and is not a leader of the ruling political party, but because “the fundamentals and economic indices are different from what they were a few years ago”.

He said these while speaking at a thanksgiving service organised by Apostle Charles Osazuwa, Senior Pastor and founder of Rock of Ages Christian Assembly International (RACAi), Benin City today.

“l have listened to our chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, and he reminded us that the Hon. Minister of Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has been under fire,” he said. “I believe the fire will continue for some time. In spite of all that he is going through, the Minister recognized that we can’t be too busy to come to the church to ask God to help us to do the job. After all, the Bible says that unless the Lord builds the house, the labourer labours in vain,” the governor said according to a statement signed by his spokesperson, Peter Okhiria.

“The fire that he is going through, the end of it will translate to prosperity for our people. Leaders must see ahead of their followers, and when followers can’t see what a leader is seeing, with time and consistency, the followers will see the benefits of the decisions the leader has taken.

“As many of you might have known, this is not my first time in the struggle against pump price increase. I have fought it over and over again, and at a point, God used us to shut down the country just to make a point to the then government in power, but the truth is that the fundamentals have changed.”

YWriter