The Vehicle Owners Association of Nigeria (VOAN) has passed a vote of confidence in President Bola Tinubu-led administration over the way and manner it handled the fuel subsidy removal debacle
In a statement issued Thursday and jointly signed by its President, Peacemaker Okoko and Secretary General, Makinde Olawole, noted that the vote of confidence resolution was informed by the President’s good performance and numerous successes of its government so far despite the numerous challenges on ground.
It said: “In specific terms, your promise to Nigerians to kick-start the rehabilitation of the moribund Nigeria oil refineries, your promise to name and possibly prosecute the saboteurs among the oil importers and your promise to activate the presidential committee on wage negotiation with the Labour bodies are welcome developments.
“Furthermore, your promise to make thousands of buses available along with soft loans to transport operators to ease the suffering of Nigerians was received with excitements.
“In the light of the above however, it is a common knowledge that in the past, these types of laudable initiatives or palliatives were hijacked by some unscrupulous elements or many a times marred by cronyism or outright frustration of the efforts of the government by the faulty process and procedure adopted by the relevant agencies.”
It said the association as a public advocate on welfare of Nigerians through the transportation system cannot fold its arms or watch helplessly as these set of people would once again position themselves to sabotage all the government efforts this time with the expected huge financial resources that shall be made available to the economy through these palliatives.
It added that it cannot watch while these set of people who do not mean well for Nigeria take on the good intentions of the government and at the end of the day make Nigerians to begin to curse their leaders who may be oblivious of the activities of these saboteurs.
It pleaded with the President to ensure that whoever must benefit from the transportation palliatives as promised by his administration to obtain letter of comfort or clearance from our office.
It stressed that this would enable the association carry-out due diligence and run a background check on such individual or corporate body to ensure that they are genuine, viable and have capacity to manage the vehicles or loan facility for the benefit of Nigerians.