The presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, in the 2023 general election, Prince Adewole Adebayo, has advised the Federal Government to treat the petroleum scarcity and the resulting hike in pump prices as national security matters.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶
He also emphasised the need for the government to invest heavily in public transportation as a way to address the current petroleum crisis in the nation.
Adebayo stressed that not every Nigerian can afford to own a car, so a reliable public transportation system is essential.
Expressing concern over the current petroleum hardship faced by Nigerians, along with the continually increasing pump prices, Adebayo declared that it is the government’s primary responsibility, whether through market rules or policy tools, to ensure the availability and reliable delivery of petrol to the nearest pump.
He said, “We need to invest in public transportation. Nigeria has not reached a level where every man and woman would have to have a car.
“We can set up plants, where whether in partnership with people in Brazil or in Asia, by the time you produce 50,000, 100,000 public buses that are on CNG, some of them could even be on electric. But there must be a national programme that is devoted to that , that is not political in nature, or not palliative in nature, especially at campaign season. “By that, we reduce petroleum consumption by 75% in the life of one administration”, he said.
Speaking further of the issue petroleum scarcity and the attendant problems, Adebayo said, “,My own ideology is that we should continue to treat it as national security, just the way the United States of America is treating it, Russia is treating it, United Kingdom is treating it. If you treat it that way, then you will know that it is the responsibility of government, whether using market rules or policy tools to ensure that petrol is available and reliably delivered to the nearest pump and that it is not busting the budget.”
Nigerians have been battling with fuel scarcity about three weeks now, Allnews reports