Tinubu approves framework, deployment of electric vehicles in N’East states

President Bola Tinubu has approved the deployment of e-vehicles in Nigeria’s Northeastern states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba, and Yobe.

Tinubu gave the approval on Wednesday at the State House, Abuja, when he received the leadership of the Northeast Development Commission NEDC led by its CEO/Managing Director, Mohammed Alkali.

The move is to ease mobility and support the reduction of transportation fares across the States, Alkali told State House Correspondents.

It follows an earlier directive by the President in May 2024 mandating all government ministries, departments and agencies to procure only CNG-powered vehicles.

However, Alkali said after a “thorough analysis” the NEDC discovered that electric vehicles hold more comparative advantage for the region over CNG-powered vehicles.

He explained in detail, “If you recall, there was a directive from the President that MDAs should use CNG or electric vehicles. So, we at the Northeast Development Commission did a thorough analysis of our region, because we cover six states, and look at the comparative advantage between CNG and e-vehicles.

“After our thorough analysis, we concluded that for the North East region, yes, the CNG could work, but e-vehicles can work better for many reasons.

“We sought and got the approval of the president for us to go ahead and come up with the framework of how we are going to deploy this e-mobility in the northeast and what kind of e-mobility. Mr. President graciously approved, and today we came to present to him the kind of E-vehicles we are going to introduce in the Northeast.”

Alkali said the vehicles comprise buses, sedan taxis, and tricycles.

“One is the e-buses which can carry about 40 passengers and that is for intrastate, not interstate. Also we brought some samples of e-taxis which normally carry three people passengers as well as the driver, and we also brought in a highly modified tricycle.

“Most of the tricycles we have in the North East or elsewhere only carry three people plus the driver four. But in our case, we have modified it to carry eight people plus the driver, and it’s fully covered and very convenient.

“Knowing the kind of weight and people we are going to carry, we’ve asked our engineers to modify the physical structure of the tricycle. When you look at it, you can see the tyres and frames are bigger,” he noted.

Alkali also hinted that the Commission plans to create modular solar power units to serve as a backup power source for the e-vehicles.

He added that the NEDC has considered local content that the parts can be fabricated locally.

“Our plan at the end of the day is to create modular solar power units across the state that can be used to power this percentage of e-vehicles. Mr. President approved that we should go ahead and deploy the e-mobility.

“We’re also considering establishing a 5KVA or 10KVA solar-powered grid, stand-alone so that this can be backup for the inadequacy of the power supply.

“We may have one or two challenges, but we already made a plan to see that besides the usual generating plant, we are also going to back up with some stand-alone solar power grid to power this station we are going to build. And in doing that, we also consider local content that the body can be fabricated locally in the North East or somewhere else in the region,” he added.

The MD further revealed that the Commission will engage stakeholders, especially the road transport workers, to integrate their concerns and advice before the final stage of the project.

“We will engage stakeholders, especially road transport workers to integrate their concerns and advice,” Alkali added.

Wednesday’s meeting comes days after the Federal Government on Sunday handed over 64 100-capacity Compressed Natural Gas-powered buses to the Organised Labour unions and the National Association of Nigerian Students at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.

The buses, which are part of the Presidential CNG initiative’s pilot programme, were distributed across the states and campuses in what the Information Minister, Mohammed Idris, called a “necessary first step.”

Last October, CNG vehicles formed part of tough back-and-forth negotiations between the FG and the organised labour unions, which had threatened to begin a nationwide strike.

At the time, the government agreed to vote N100bn to provide high-capacity CNG buses for mass transit in Nigeria, then Labour Minister, Simon Lalong, revealed.

Lalong said plans were underway for an initial 55,000 CNG conversion kits to kick start an autogas conversion programme, while work is ongoing on state-of-the-art CNG stations nationwide.

“The rollout aims to commence by November with pilots across 10 campuses nationwide,” he noted.

However, the programme suffered delays as Nigerians continued to stagger under the mounting cost of transportation and soaring petrol pump prices. However, the FG says the vehicles are unavailable for direct purchase and are only being manufactured upon order.

In April 2024, the Presidency announced it would release about 2,700 CNG-powered buses and tricycles before the end of 2024.

This includes 600 buses, 2,500 tricycles, 100 conversion workshops, and 60 refuelling sites across 18 states.