In order to mitigate the effect of fuel subsidy removal on the masses, the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPMAN) says it will donate Compressed Natural Gas compliant buses worth N10 billion.
Chairperson of the association, Mrs Winifred Akpani, stated this while briefing State House Correspondents after she led a delegation of the group to the State House, on a courtesy visit to President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday.
According to Akpani, “We did pledge that we are going to work at providing real mass transit buses that work. The ones that will work on the compressed natural gas (CNG) and diesel interchangeably and hopefully we are going to start with about 50-100 and that is in a very short time.”
Akpani added that the arrangement will help provide employment to a lot of Nigerians because the buses would be manufactured locally.
“These are locally produced vehicles so we are also providing jobs because we are using local assembly plants; we are not importing the buses and that is less pressure on our foreign exchange and more jobs for Nigerians,” she added.
The DAPMAN leader said President Tinubu was happy with the development, as she expressed optimism that very soon Nigerians would see that the removal of subsidy on petrol was a good move by the President.
The Petroleum marketers further urged all citizens to support the President in that direction in order to move the country forward.
Adding his voice, Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun confirmed that each of the buses will cost N100 million and each would be a 50 seater bus.
“They are all 50 seater buses and each is about N100 million each. So, they are donating 100 buses and that is N10 billion,” he said.
The Governor who was a former chairman of the Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria said contrary to insinuations, petroleum marketers have never opposed the deregulation of petrol.
“I believe this singular step demonstrates the fact that they have keyed into this administration’s very laudable policy and they are in support of deregulation,” he added.
Governor Abiodun called on other members of the organised private sector like the Bankers Committee to follow suit and do more to cushion the effect of the removal of subsidy on Nigerians.