President Bola Tinubu has assured Nigerians that more commuters will benefit from lower transportation costs from Oct. 1 as the Federal Government expands the use of compressed natural gas (CNG)-powered public transport.
Tinubu said the Federal Government was working with state governments and transport stakeholders to ensure savings from cheaper energy are reflected in reduced fares. He said an implementation committee for the National Affordable CNG Transit Programme, chaired by Kwara Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, had been established to identify priority transport corridors and determine appropriate interventions.
The President cited existing CNG and electric transport initiatives across several states, saying they had already reduced fares for commuters. He noted that CNG and electric services in Borno charge between 50 naira and 100 naira on some routes where commercial operators charge 300 naira to 600 naira, while CNG buses in Kaduna provided free transportation and saved commuters more than 3.5 billion naira in their first year. Other fare reductions were recorded in Oyo, Adamawa, Enugu, Plateau, Abuja, Niger and Abia.
Tinubu said the Federal Government had invested in building a CNG transportation ecosystem over the past three years, with more than 120,000 vehicles converted, over 400 certified conversion centres and more than 90 CNG refuelling stations nationwide. He urged state governments to work with transport unions and commercial operators to accelerate vehicle conversions and fleet deployment ahead of Oct. 1.
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