In an effort to enhance the affordability of mass transportation, President Bola Tinubu is mulling a target price of N250 per liter for Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), a more economical substitute for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) or petrol.
This initiative follows the removal of fuel subsidy which has led to an increase in prices and transportation costs.
Speaking on Channels Television’s “Business Morning” program on Tuesday, the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, emphasized the importance of this policy shift.
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Ngelale also highlighted that the policy is overseen by Femi Gbajabiamila, the Chief of Staff, and is set to introduce 11,500 new CNG-fueled vehicles in the immediate future. The primary focus will be on implementing these vehicles within mass transit systems across all states of the federation.
According to him, the targets for the initiative are lower-income earners to provide CNG-fuelled buses “and the like that will crash the cost from PMS-fuelled buses at about N620 per litre on average”.
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“You’re now looking at about N250 per litre on average for CNG,” he added.
“That’s going to have a massive impact on the ability of the everyday Nigerian going to work and back, going to market and back using mass transit across our states. That’s going to do that in the immediate term.”
The presidential spokesman also highlighted the prompt deployment of 55,000 new CNG conversion kits for pre-existing PMS vehicles. This measure was aimed at expediting the conversion and shift from PMS to CNG.
“But I need to note that it is one thing to deal with the demand side of the CNG equation,” he said.
In addressing the supply aspect, the President, via the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), forged an agreement with NIPCO, as elucidated by Ngelale.
“[The deal] effectively is going to roll out 56 new CNG filling stations across all states of the federation within the next 16 months — 21 new CNG filling stations within the next nine months and then 35 CNG filling stations between April 2024 and April 2025, which essentially takes us to the midterm of his first term in office,” he said.
“We’re also going to be rolling out an exemption on customs duties as well as VAT exemptions on all importation of CNG conversion kits to further accelerate and cheapen the prices of CNG conversion for families across Nigeria and that is the President’s focus at this time.”
