The Senate on Wednesday rejected a bill to phase out the use of petrol vehicles in 2035 and introduce electric cars.
This followed stiff opposition to the bill by lawmakers who argued against the provision of the bill that mandates Nigerians to stop the use of petrol vehicles by 2035.
Presenting the bill before its rejection, sponsor of the bill, Ben Murray-Bruce (PDP, Bayelsa) submitted that electric vehicles would help solve the problem of ozone layer depletion.
The lawmaker said the use of electric vehicles would be health friendly among other things.
Contributing to the bill, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, said this would be detrimental to Nigeria, as oil remains the mainstay of the nation’s economy.
According to him, there was no need for a law to be passed for Nigerians to switch from use of petrol vehicles to electric vehicles.
“If we go down in history donkeys were used as means of transportation and there is no law that caused people to begin to use cars.
“This is ancillary to Section 41 of the 1999 Constitution, which requires freedom of movement. So, he should consider taking back the bill.
“Besides, in economic sense, we are an oil producing country. So, we should do everything possible to frustrate the sale of electric cars in Nigeria to enable us sell our oil,” he said.
His position was supported by Barau Jibrin (APC, Kano).
He said: “We have to look at individual net worth. Not all Nigerians can afford the vehicles at a given time.
“We all know the importance of vehicles in our daily activities. So, banning use of fuel cars will cause hardship, particularly for those who may not be able to acquire electric cars”.
Following the rejection, the sponsor of the bill withdrew it.
