The continued scarcity of petrol amid hike in price, removal and surreptitious return of fuel subsidy, make Nigerians wonder if the midstream and downstream sub-sector of petroleum industry is run by competent hands with managerial and technical expertise. This query is germane because of the failure of the army of technicians, engineers, managers and policymakers paid to run the four government-owned refineries that have, practically, not produced petroleum products in nearly 30 years. It is even more interesting that the Compressed Natural Gas alternative to petrol, personally suggested by President Bola Tinubu, is not being actively promoted by the National Automotive Design and Development Council.
The expression, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick,” found in the Holy Book, aptly describes the frustration of Nigerian citizens, who are patiently awaiting the arrival of cheaper Compressed Natural Gas to run their vehicles. The government’s promise to facilitate this novel idea appears to have become a painful mirage, compounded by the scarcity and hike in the pump price of petrol, after the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited finally admitted that it could notprovide enough petrol because of difficulties in settling its debts to its suppliers. Claims of Nigeria’s impressive 206.
53 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves, that can be increased to 600 trillion cubic feet, are turning out to be mere words as long as Nigerians cannot access the resource to f.