TheCable

Ben Murray-Bruce, senator representing Bayelsa east, has withdrawn a bill seeking to phase out petrol cars and introduce electric vehicles by 2035.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.