President Bola Tinubu has ordered  mandatory procurement of compressed-natural-gas-powered vehicles by all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government.

The president gave the directive while addressing members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) at the State House on Monday.

Tinubu in May 2023, removed petrol subsidy. Many vehicles in Nigeria are petrol-powered and the removal of subsidy on petrol has led to spikes in inflation and created hardship for many Nigerians.

CNG is seen as a better alternative fuel to petrol. Not only is it cleaner, it is also cheaper.

In 2020, former President Muhammadu Buhari  launched the National Gas Expansion Program (NGEP), which aims to make CNG a preferable fuel for transportation. However, the policy has failed to achieve its objectives in almost three and a half years of its existenc

Nigeria has adopted gas as its transition fuel and is targeting to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2060.

Tinubu’s directive, according to his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, is  in furtherance of Nigeria’s effort to transition to cleaner energy.

“This nation will not progress forward if we continue to dance on the same spot. We have the will to drive the implementation of CNG adoption across the country, and we must set the example as public officials in leading the way to that prosperous future that we are working to achieve for our people. It starts with us, and in seeing that we are serious, Nigerians will follow our lead,”  Ngelale quoted the President as saying in a statement.

Tinubu also directed the rejection of all memos brought by members of FEC seeking the purchase of traditional petrol-dependent vehicles, tasking the affected members of the council to go back and diligently seek value-driven procurements of CNG-compliant vehicles.

The statement added that “The President remains committed to effectively harnessing the nation’s gas potential, alleviating the burden of high transportation costs on the masses while enhancing the standard of living of all Nigerians.”

Recall that in April, Bayo Onanuga, an aide to the President, had announced that the Federal Government would  launch its CNG initiative this month ahead of  Tinubu’s first year in office.

“In all, over 600 buses are targeted for production in the first phase that will be accomplished this year,” he said in a  statement.

“A new plant on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway will assemble thousands of tricycles. 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 are expected to arrive early in May. About 2,500 of the tricycles will be ready before May 29, 2024.”

Onanuga disclosed that Federal Government  is targeting the purchase of “5,500 CNG vehicles (buses and tricycles), 100 Electric buses and over 20,000 CNG conversion kits, alongside spurring the development of CNG refilling stations and electric charging stations”.

“With necessary tax and duty waivers approved by President Tinubu in December 2023, the PCNGI committee is partnering with the private sector to deliver the promise on the initiative. The private sector has responded with over $50 million in actual investments in refuelling stations, conversion centres, and mother stations,” he said.

For  those who want to convert their petrol-powered buses and taxis, the presidential aide said: “Thousands of conversion kits for petrol-powered buses and taxis that want to migrate to CNG are also ready with CNG cylinders.”