Ben Murray-Bruce, senator
representing Bayelsa east, has withdrawn a bill seeking to phase out petrol
cars and introduce electric vehicles by 2035.
The senator withdrew the bill
after his colleagues bashed it on the floor of the upper legislative chamber on
Wednesday.
While moving a motion for the
bill to read the second time, Murray-Bruce noted that the country was spending
N1 trillion on fuel subsidy.
The lawmaker argued that by
introducing electric cars, fuel subsidy “will automatically be gone” with the
government having funds for eduction and infrastructure.
“Combustion engine cars has
continued to cause deaths through uncontrolled pollution. Secondly, we have
been spending over N1 trillion annually subsidising fuel in this country,” he
said.
“By introducing electric cars,
fuel subsidy will automatically be gone and those funds will be used for
infrastructure and education. All industrialised nations have set a date and
Nigeria will be the first African country.
“To charge your electric cars,
all the filling stations will be replaced with solar charging stations.
Thankfully, this country is blessed with sunlight 365 days in a year.
“Electric cars are outselling
petrol cars as witnessed in Norway few weeks ago. It makes more sense to build
Nigeria’s biggest power plant than refineries.”
However, the two other senators
who contributed to the debate kicked against the bill.
Barau Jibrin, senator
representing Kano north, said what the bill is seeking do is not “feasible.”
“Making it mandatory that
everyone should resort to using electric cars at a given day is not feasible,”
Jibrin said.
On his part, Andrew Uchendu,
senator representing Rivers north-east, said the bill did not comply with order
77 of their standing rules which borders on financial implication.
They all urged him to withdraw
the bill.
Withdrawing the bill,
Murray-Bruce said: “For the sake of my colleagues, I’ll withdraw the bill. You
don’t belong to the 21st century and I understand.”
The senate also rejected another
bill he sponsored seeking to amend the constitution to allow persons of African
origin to acquire Nigerian citizenship for purposes of development.
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