The Federal Government has converted an abandoned petrol filling station at the State House in Abuja into a Compressed Natural Gas refuelling facility, the Permanent Secretary of the State House said on Friday. Temitope Fashedemi, who inaugurated the facility, said the project was executed at no cost to the State House through a partnership with the Presidential Initiative on Compressed Natural Gas and Electric Vehicles and Rollin Energy Limited, the private operator. The move is part of efforts to shift Nigeria's transport sector away from petrol and diesel following the removal of the fuel subsidy in May 2023, which triggered sharp increases in fuel prices and transport costs across the country.
Fashedemi said the government's decision to make the abandoned station available for conversion was deliberate, intended to demonstrate the viability of the CNG transition model and signal to private investors that business opportunities existed in the sector. He noted that the State House had already integrated CNG technology into its vehicle fleet, with about 10 recently acquired JAC vehicles operating as hybrid models, alongside shuttle buses serving the Presidential Villa. Interested State House personnel would be invited to convert their personal vehicles to CNG-hybrid systems in the coming weeks, subject to technical eligibility assessments.
The new facility, located in Karu, Abuja, is an integrated refuelling unit with the capacity to serve approximately 150 vehicles daily, according to Mubarak Danbatta, the Chief Executive Officer of Rollin Energy. The facility has double-nozzle dispensers that allow simultaneous refuelling from both sides of a vehicle. Rollin Energy currently operates facilities in Ilorin and Abuja, with two additional stations in Kano expected to be commissioned the following week and two more planned for Kaduna. The company is targeting nearly 15 CNG facilities nationwide before the end of 2026.
Nigeria currently has 106 operational CNG stations, with 170 more at various stages of development or awaiting regulatory approval, according to Ismael Ahmed, the Chairman of Pi-CNG. President Tinubu has directed the establishment of 1,500 additional stations in February and another 500 in August, with facilities expected to come on stream between now and early 2027, bringing the total target to 2,000 new stations nationwide. Ahmed said the programme had moved beyond the experimental stage and was now focused on scaling up, citing measurable impacts on transport fares. CNG-powered buses have reduced costs by between 30 and 40 per cent on routes where they operated, including Abuja, Lagos and the Kano-Katsina corridor, he said. Commuters on the Kano-Katsina route who previously paid between N3,000 and N4,000 could now travel for approximately N1,500 on CNG-powered buses.
The Federal Government and state governments are expanding investments in CNG-powered buses, trucks and tricycles to ensure that lower fuel costs translate into reduced transportation expenses, according to Toyin Subair, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Domestic Affairs. The National Economic Council has committed to a joint financing arrangement with the Federal Government to support the deployment of affordable transportation across states, with a target of reducing fares by 40 per cent or more, particularly on interstate routes and for the transportation of agricultural produce. More than 30,000 additional vehicle conversion kits are expected to enter the Nigerian market from the following week in a move aimed at expanding conversion capacity ahead of the Christmas travel season.