…NNPCL To add to the fleet, gets invoice From Innoson Motors
The buses that are to run on compressed Natural Gas (CNG) promised by some oil companies have been delivered to the federal government, but they are yet to be launched by President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The reason why the buses are yet to be launched according to industry sources is that they are too few.
According to a source close to the oil marketers, she said: “We on our own have fulfilled our promise, but the President considers the number of buses delivered to be too few, so he is holding on until many more of such buses are brought in .”
Consequently, the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has taken up the responsibility of adding more buses to the ones brought by marketers. Already, NNPC is said to be on its way to having discussions with Innosion Motors which it was learnt has sent invoices to it.
Not all the oil marketers are contributing to the fleets of buses being provided, Major Oil Marketers are yet to contribute their own quota to the project.
A source close to major oil marketers told Business Standards they could not honour the pledge because they were not the ones that originally initiated the visit to the president as they could not make such a promise without discussing it with the critical stakeholders of their companies. He said most of the members of the group that made the promise were owners of their companies, so they can make any impromptu decision that becomes binding to them.
Recently, the Executive Secretary of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, Clement Isong, was quoted to have said that the promised buses have been delivered to the Federal Government.
He said: “Although MOMAN has nothing to do with the buses, however, those involved have ordered them from Innoson Motors, and I know they have taken delivery of them already. They are just waiting for the right time to launch them,” he said
The Depot and Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria had shortly after subsidy removal in June called for increased gas investments to provide an alternative to petrol use. It also pledged to donate between 50 and 100 compressed-natural-gas-powered buses to cushion the shock on the masses.
During oil marketers’ visit to President Tinubu in Abuja, DAPPMAN chairman, who doubles as the managing director of Northwest Petroleum and Gas Company Limited, Winifred Akpani, said the meeting was to discuss the best course of action in the post-subsidy regime.
Akpani said the oil marketers lived proactively and at the forefront of mitigating the effects of the removal of the petrol subsidy.
“We have made suggestions today, we can move this forward. What we came up with is that over time, we have all depended on PMS because it was cheap.
“We didn’t develop our gas. There is electricity. So, we will have alternate sources of energy. It does not have to be PMS,” she said.
