Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat has stressed the need for the citizens to always pray for the nation and governments at all levels.
Dr. Hamzat 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.
He added that no leader deliberately goes out to inflict pains and agonies on the citizenry or desire to fail, stressing that the importance of divine intervention cannot be over emphasized.
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 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.
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Dr. Hamzat noted that nations do not develop by the curses or vituperation of citizens on social media, hence, he admonished them to desist from such acts.
Dignitaries in attendance at the lecture include the Chief Judge of Lagos State, Hon Justice Kazeem Alogba; 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.