President Bola Tinubu has disclosed that his administration is on course towards revamping the nation’s oil sector.
Tinubu, in a nationwide broadcast to pacify the EndBadGovernance protesters said the nation’s once declining oil and gas industry was witnessing a resurgence under his administration.
The president expressed optimistic that the CNG initiative would reduce transportation costs by approximately 60 per cent and help to curb inflation.
He said, “Fellow Nigerians, we are a country blessed with both oil and gas resources, but we met a country that had been dependent solely on oil-based petrol, neglecting its gas resources to power the economy.
“Our once-declining oil and gas industry is experiencing a resurgence on the back of the reforms I announced in May 2024 to address the gaps in the Petroleum Industry Act.
“Last month, we increased our oil production to 1.61million barrels per day, and our gas assets are receiving the attention they deserve.
“Investors are coming back, and we have already seen two Foreign Direct Investments signed of over half a billion dollars since then.
“We were also using our hard-earned foreign exchange to pay for, and subsidise its use.
“To address this, we immediately launched our Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (CNG) to power our transportation economy and bring costs down.
“This will save over two trillion Naira a month, being used to import PMS and AGO and free up our resources for more investment in healthcare and education.
“To this end, we will be distributing a million kits of extremely low or no cost to commercial vehicles that transport people and goods and who currently consume 80% of the imported PMS and AGO.
“We have started the distribution of conversion kits and setting up of conversion centres across the country in conjunction with the private sector.
“We believe that this CNG initiative will reduce transportation costs by approximately 60 per cent and help to curb inflation,” he said.
Recall that following the widespread hunger across the country, a section of Nigerians, majority of whom are from the youths demography, have taken to the streets in protest, placing some demands before the president to be met.
The youths have insisted that until President Tinubu addresses those demands, they will continue to remain on the streets in protest against the current hardship.
Following the protest, deaths and injuries have been recorded in some states as suspected hoodlums infiltrated the protest, thereby discrediting the intention of the protesters.
In Kano, Kaduna, Yobe, FCT and other states, what started as peaceful protests, later turned violent.
President Tinubu in the Sunday broadcast appealed to the protesters to sheathe their swords and come forward for a round-table discussion.
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