The Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPMAN) says it will donate Compressed Natural Gas compliant buses worth N10 billion to boost Nigeria’s mass transportation network.
Chairperson of the association, Mrs Winifred Akpani, revealed 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.
She said: “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,”
Mrs Akpani said the scheme will help provide employment to a lot of Nigerians because the buses would be locally produced.
“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.
She therefore 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 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 organized private sector like the Bankers Committee to follow suit and do more to cushion the effect of the removal of subsidy on Nigerians.
