The Lagos State House of Assembly, on Tuesday, asked Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to urgently summon a stakeholders’ meeting to address the prevailing economic hardship in the land.
The lawmakers said although the biting economic hardship was not nationwide, but Lagos State and its local governments must do more to ameliorate the suffering of the people.
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The House also advised leaders and statesmen to join forces with the government and play persuasive roles instead of inciting the people against the government.
Mudashiru Obasa, the speaker of the House, said the situation called for a stakeholders’ meeting where everyone should make an input, including members of the national and state assemblies as well as local government chairmen.
“No doubt, there is a challenge before us as representatives of the people and it is the duty of all of us to proffer solutions.
“This is a situation that started long ago in Nigeria and was graduating. Unfortunately, we are facing this now. The dollar issue did not start now. The prices of food and how farmers had been prevented from going to farms as a result of insecurity did not start now.
“The most unfortunate thing about it has to do with the comments coming from some leaders of the country. Instead of using their wisdom to appeal to the people, they’re inciting the people against the government as if they have not been in the country before now.
“We cannot leave the Federal Government alone to proffer solutions to our problems. There is no ‘abracadabra’ about it.
“The immediate concern is to appeal to our people. Protests and violence will not solve anything but take us backwards. Nobody prayed for the current situation but we must work hand-in-hand to take us away from this mess.
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“It is not the president’s fault, neither is it the governor’s fault,” Obasa said while commending Sanwo-Olu for recently starting the Trader Money programme which has benefitted 15,000 traders in the state.
The speaker directed that the commissioners for agriculture and transportation, Ruth Abisola Olusanya and Oluwaseun Osiyemi, respectively as well as related parastatals and agencies be invited to brief the House on their plans to make life more comfortable for the people just as he urged serious sanctions against those who hoard dollars in the country.
“All this while, we have been talking about sports to take our youths off the streets as we have seen in other countries. Let us inject money into it and make it attractive so that they would be engaged.
“Our system of education must also be adjusted to emphasise what students can become on their own without seeking or applying for jobs.
“There is a need for re-orientation and sensitisation. There are a lot of complaints and negatives out there. The government should also embark on campaigns and re-orientation to make the people know the real situation and what is being done.
“The government’s voice must be louder than those who are hell-bent on destroying the country,” Obasa said while lamenting the current prices of cement and iron rods even when most of the materials are locally sourced.
Earlier speaking under ‘Matter of Urgent Public Importance’, Segun Adebisi Ege representing Ojo Constituency 1, lamented the hardship rocking the state.
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Ege also urged that Governor Sanwo-Olu be called upon to subsidise transportation and prices of food items in the state.
In his contribution, the deputy majority leader, Richard Adedamola Kasunmu, said there was a need for the government to bring out actionable plans to solve the economic problem in the country.
