FG to support states, FCT with CNG buses for cheaper public transportation – Tinubu

President Bola Tinubu has announced that the federal government is ready to assist the 36 states of the federtion and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in acquiring Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses for cheaper public transportation.

In his Independence Day speech on Tuesday, the president explained that the country’s energy transition programme is on course.

“Our energy transition programme is on course. We are expanding the adoption of the Presidential Initiative on Compressed Natural Gas for mass transit with private sector players. The Federal Government is ready to assist the thirty-six States and FCT in acquiring CNG buses for cheaper public transportation,” Mr Tinubu said.

In August last year, Mr Tinubu approved the establishment of the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (PCNGI).

In a statement, the then Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, said the initiative furthered the president’s commitment to easing the impact of fuel subsidy removal on Nigerians by reducing energy costs.

This initiative, according to Mr Ngelale, is poised to revolutionise the transportation landscape in the country, targeting over 11,500 new Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)-enabled vehicles and 55,000 CNG conversion kits for existing Premium Motor Spirit (PMS)-dependent vehicles

“While simultaneously bolstering in-country manufacturing, local assembly and expansive job creation in line with the presidential directive,” Mr Ngelale noted at the time.

Earlier in July, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) and NIPCO Gas Limited, commissioned 12 CNG stations in the country.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, commissioned the stations in Abuja and Lagos State at the time, explaining that the stations demonstrated the determination of the federal government’s commitment to drive the CNG project.

On 26 September, the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, while briefing State House correspondents in Abuja, said the federal government is promoting alternative energy solutions like CNG by subsidising conversion costs for vehicles.

He said the government wants to make sure that Nigerians have a choice.

“If you don’t want to use PMS, you can use CNG, and you can see what’s going on in some of our cities, Lagos, Ibadan, Benin and some other places where transporters are already embracing CNG. And the whole idea that CNG, the equivalent of gas to PMS, the gap is very wide. If you want to buy a litre of petrol, if they sell it, let’s say N850, what they are going to get by the equivalent of CNG is about N230 and you can see the gap,” he said.

According to him, some of the transporters are already converting their vehicles to CNG, noting that the government has a plan to make sure that about a million of those vehicles run on CNG.

“The whole idea is that if they run on CNG, the cost of transportation will go down,” he added.

He noted that the government also has a plan to make sure that private car owners can convert to CNG at a reduced cost.

“For transporters, it is almost free for them, but for private vehicle owners, the government has a plan to subsidise, I mean, the cost of converting the vehicle from petrol to CNG,” he said.