The Federal Government has renewed its commitment to deploying one million compressed natural gas-powered vehicles across Nigeria, with officials tasked to accelerate investments in refuelling infrastructure and vehicle conversions. The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, issued the directive in Abuja after receiving progress reports from the Presidential Initiative on Compressed Natural Gas and Electric Vehicles and the Decade of Gas Secretariat. The government aims to translate its autogas policy into tangible benefits for Nigerians, particularly through lower transport fares following the removal of petrol subsidy.
The minister tasked the leadership of both bodies with identifying critical interventions, expanding infrastructure and strengthening programmes to increase nationwide adoption of compressed natural gas. Ekpo emphasised that Nigeria's abundant gas resources offered an opportunity to lower transportation costs, increase domestic gas consumption and stimulate economic growth. He noted that Nigeria has a gas reserves index of over 80 years, which underpins the government's Decade of Gas initiative. The minister stressed the importance of following President Bola Tinubu's directive to make transportation more affordable through CNG and said the government would continue to support the initiative.
Compressed natural gas is generally cheaper than petrol on an energy-equivalent basis and has been promoted by the Federal Government as an alternative that could reduce transport operators' fuel expenses and ease pressure on commuters. However, the benefits depend on the availability of refuelling stations, affordable vehicle conversion, reliable gas supply and operators passing savings on to passengers. The Chairman of the Presidential Initiative on CNG and Electric Vehicles, Ismaeel Ahmed, said the initiative would intensify investments and programmes to expand refuelling infrastructure and increase the number of vehicles converted to run on gas, with the aim of making CNG more accessible to transport operators and helping reduce fares for millions of Nigerians.
For savers and borrowers in Nigeria, this initiative means potential reductions in transport costs that could ease household spending pressures, while for businesses and investors, it signals government commitment to expanding the gas sector and reducing operational expenses for transport operators.