The Presidency has announced plans to launch approximately 2,700 buses and tricycles powered by Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) before President Bola Tinubu's first year in office ends on May 29.
According to the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, the federal government aims to establish 100 conversion workshops and 60 refueling sites in 18 states by the end of 2024.
In a statement titled 'Presidential CNG initiative set for rollout' signed by Mr. Bayo Onanuga on Sunday, it was revealed that Nigeria will soon take steps to join other nations with large fleets of CNG vehicles.
Recall that in October 2023, about five months after the removal of the petrol subsidy, Tinubu launched the Presidential CNG Initiative to deliver cheaper, safer, and more climate-friendly energy.
The CNG Initiative was designed to deliver compressed natural gas, especially for mass transit.
The Federal Government earmarked N100bn (part of the N500bn palliative budget) to purchase 5500 CNG vehicles (buses and tricycles), 100 electric buses and over 20,000 CNG conversion kits, with plans to develop CNG refilling stations and electric charging stations nationwide.
The FG had said the initiative would ease the burden of the increased pump price on the masses.
“After months of detailed planning and background work, the committee driving the initiative is set to deliver on President Tinubu’s vision and promise,” Onanuga affirmed.
The federal Government also announced the creation of a new plant on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway that will assemble the tricycles while Brilliant EV will assemble electric vehicles when it receives the Semi Knocked Down components.
“The SKD parts manufactured by the Chinese company LUOJIA in partnership with its local partner to support the consortium of local suppliers of CNG tricycles are set for shipment to Nigeria and expected to arrive early in May.
“Brilliant EV will assemble electric vehicles. It is awaiting the SKD parts, which will arrive in due course. The electric vehicles it will produce are meant for states such as Kano and Borno, which now do not have access to CNG.
“They will also be available in key Nigerian cities and university campuses. It must be noted that soon-to-be-completed gas pipeline projects initiated by the Buhari administration and being completed by NNPCL (the AKK Pipeline) will take gas into the hinterlands of North East and North West where there is a current paucity.”
Onanuga said deploying CNG buses and tricycles and the vision to get at least one million natural gas-propelled vehicles on Nigerian roads by 2027 would mark a major energy transition in our country’s transportation industry.
With necessary tax and duty waivers approved by Tinubu in December 2023, the PCNGI committee is partnering with the private sector to deliver the promise on the initiative. He explained.
Onanuga stated that for proper monitoring, the Presidential CNG Initiative would also launch MYCNG.NG App.
The app will embed the Nigeria Gas Vehicle Monitoring Systems, which will show CNG conversion and refuelling sites in the country. He stressed
