Adeyinka Adeniji 
…Urges Citizens To Always Pray For Governments
On Monday, Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr Kadri Obafemi Hamzat said the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration’s reform efforts, especially regarding the removal of petroleum subsidy, are yielding results.
He, nonetheless, added that those benefiting from the awkward subsidy regime were powerful, and so, must be expected to fight back.
Dr. Hamzat advised Nigerians to always pray for leaders; elected and appointed officers in all tiers of Government.
While advising citizens to desist from destructive criticisms, he noted that nations do not develop by the curses or vituperation of citizens on social media.
The DG, who gave the charge in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday, during a Ramadan lecture organised by the Lagos State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board for its Umrah (lesser hajj) pilgrims, noted that it was the prayers of Prophet Ibrahim that metamorphosed the hitherto desert nation of Saudi Arabia into what it is today.
Kadri added that no leader deliberately goes out to inflict pain and agonies on the citizenry or desire to fail, just as he stressed that the importance of divine intervention cannot be overemphasised.
According to him: “The reform of the Federal Government in the subsidy removal is already bearing fruits as the nation’s monthly oil consumption has been reduced by a billion litre”, wondering where the reduced billion litre was going before the subsidy removal.
The Deputy Governor opined that the total amount hitherto spent on subsidy was much more than the total budgets of the Federal Ministries of Works, Education and Health combined.
He said that those hitherto benefitting from subsidy removal were powerful people and as such, it should be expected that they would fight back. Hence, he urged the citizens to support the President with their prayers for him to succeed.
Dr Hamzat noted that nations do not develop by the curses or vituperation of citizens on social media, admonishing those indulging in them to desist from such despicable acts.
Dignitaries in attendance at the lecture include the Chief Judge of Lagos State, Hon. Justice Kazeem Alogba; and members of the Governor’s Advisory Council such as Prince Tajudeen Olusi, Messrs Tunde Balogun and Mutiu Are.
Others are members of the State Executive Council; current and former members of the Lagos State House of Assembly; members of the Board of Permanent Secretaries and some General Managers and Heads of Agencies.
