By Nneka Nwogwugwu
The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, has proposed an alternative option to end fuel subsidy in Nigeria.
He noted that Nigeria needs to shift from petroleum-powered vehicles to gas-powered ones so that spending on fuel subsidy yearly will be stopped.
He disclosed this while speaking at the 60th birthday celebration and the book launch of Dr Yunus Akintunde on Monday in Ibadan.
He added that the money the Federal Government was spending on fuel subsidy could be used to transform education and other sectors of the nation.
Aregbesola said, “This concern has not been shared in Nigeria as our addiction to cheap petroleum fuel appears insatiable.
“Most of our systems are still dependent on petrol and diesel which is driving the demand for them, hence the consequences. But we can learn a bit from Egypt where its commercial vehicles, particularly taxis are powered by gas.
“These are the old Peugeot and Renault cars that are no longer in use in Nigeria and other parts of the world, but which have been converted to use gas and are still being used because they are well maintained. It is high time we learnt from this.
“If all our commercial vehicles run on gas, the large chunk of our demand for petrol and diesel will drop and we will save ourselves the humongous amount of money we spend on fuel subsidy. Two weeks ago, the Federal Executive Council considered N3tn as fuel subsidy.
“Let us for a moment imagine how much N3tn would do in providing the critical and essential needs for people from schools, to hospitals, to roads. It is huge and this is what we burn every year on subsidy.”
According to the minister, if the nation starts using gas-powered vehicles, the cost of transportation will reduce and public transport will be the largest beneficiary.
Source: The Punch
