A group, Vanguard For Transparent Leadership And Democracy (VATLAD), has described as embarrassing and economically irrational the directive by President Bola Tinubu to all ministries, department and agencies (MDAs), to turn to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) powered vehicles as alternative to petroleum products as source of fuel.
The national president of VATLAD, Igbini Emmanuel stated in a press release on Tuesday that Nigeria has no business seeking alternatives to petrol, diesel, aviation kerosene, domestic kerosene as sources of fuel.
He unequivocally stated that the reason advanced for this Mr President’s directive being in furtherance of Nigeria’s effort to transition to cleaner energy, is not a justification given the many disadvantages that the switch to CNG-enabled vehicles have on Nigeria and Nigerians for now.
“There can be no other better proof of admission of failure by our dear President Tinubu-led federal government on the several dates announced for completion of the multi-billion dollars turnaround maintenance of Nigeria’s four petroleum refineries than this shocking and disappointing
“How can the leadership of the sixth largest petroleum producing country, Nigeria, with four petroleum refineries be constantly engaged in importation of petroleum products and now inclusive of Compressed Natural Gas as source of fuel for its national utilization causing huge drain of our foreign reserve and free fall of the value of our nation’s currency?
“CNG is certainly not an alternative for now considering the fact that there are far inadequate number of CNG or LNG producing plants and service stations across the country; no enforcement of Safety Regulatory standards and no proper safety enlightenment of the public in handling and usage of this very highly inflammable and explosive Gas.
Nigerians are aware of the number of heavy casualties recorded in recent years in some parts of Nigeria as a result of explosion of gas in pipelines, CNG tankers and LPG-powered small capacity electric generators; all this claimed so many precious lives and destroyed homes, industries and properties worth hundreds of billions of naira
“As an organisation with expertise in Petroleum Sectors, we have consistently and patriotically opposed the recent joint agreement between TUC and NLC and the federal government for massive importation of CNG-powered vehicles rather than insisting on the immediate commencement of operations of our petroleum refineries for the production of petroleum products which will not only eliminate the fraudulent subsidy payments on imported petroleum products but also plug waste of our foreign earnings and the humiliating devaluation of our nation’s currency,” Emmanuel stated.
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