Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) yesterday urged Lagos residents, especially traders and transporters not to aggravate the hardship caused by recent hike in the pump price of petrol to inflate transport fares and prices of foodstuff in the State.
Fashola who made the appeal? while briefing Journalists on the fourth quarter performance of the State`s 2011 budget said that the budget hit a cumulative performance of 77 percent.
The governor said that the new pump price should not be used as an excuse for arbitrary price increases, saying unjustified price increases amounted to causing discomfort to others.
He wondered why some commercial bus operators whose vehicles run on diesel had increased their fares over the development, describing the action as sheer profiteering.
He explained that the subsidy removal was for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) and not diesel.? He appealed to them to adjust their transport fares in the interest of residents who had been at the receiving end of the unjustifiable hike in the price of fuel.
Fashola revealed that the state government was also making plans to cushion the effects of the one-week strike especially to farmers who trade on perishable goods, to compensate them for the loss.