CNG: Lagos assures residents of reduction in fares

Residents will pay less for transportation when President Bola Tinubu’s compressed natural gas initiatives fully take effect, according to the Lagos State Government.

The Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Transportation, Sola Giwa, said this during a park-to-park CNG mobilisation programme in Lagos.

Giwa stated that the CNG initiative would not only bring down the prices of transport fares by 50 per cent in the state and country at large but would also decrease the concentration on the Premium Motor Spirit, commonly called petrol.

He noted, “We know transporters are very important to the economy. The cost of transportation has been on the rise because of rising fuel prices. There is nothing the President can do about fuel prices because they are determined by the global market.

“That is why the president said we should start using gas to run our vehicles instead of petrol or diesel. You will not pay a dime for the conversion to CNG. With this, the cost of transportation will go down by more than 50 per cent. Let us support this government initiative.”

Also speaking at the sensitisation programme, a former National President of the National Union of Road Transport Workers and a current chairman of the Board of Trustees, Najeem Yasin, appealed to transporters to embrace the initiative and reduce the cost of conveying passengers.

He also said the President was engaging in free CNG conversion to ease the suffering of the masses, saying a rise in transport fares affected everything, including school fees.

“With CNG, automatically, the prices of commercial vehicles should come down and this will affect all sectors of the economy, and that is the aim of Mr President. We are to ensure that this thing goes around as stipulated. The 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory will have these free conversion kits,” Yasin noted.

Leaders of NURTW, the Road Transport Employers Association, and the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners, appreciated Tinubu’s administration for the initiative, promising to support the government in achieving its plans.