President Bola Tinubu’s administration has launched a new initiative to reduce Nigeria’s reliance on petrol and diesel. As part of this effort, 20 compressed natural gas (CNG)-powered buses were recently delivered to Lagos.
On Tuesday, the buses were handed over to the Oniru of Iru, Oba Abdulwasiu Omogbbolahan, on behalf of the Iru Land Transport Company Limited.
The Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (PCNGi) director, Oluwagbemi Michael, emphasized the government’s commitment to ensuring availability of CNG filling stations throughout the country. He also highlighted that the buses being delivered were locally produced and that more would be procured in the future for the people’s use.
However, he emphasised that the beneficiaries of the buses would pay the cost over time and that the money would be used to get more buses for others.
“Yes, we are providing these buses. They were purchased by the Federal Ministry of Finance under the palliative programme. They are becoming available because they are being assembled and manufactured here in Nigeria. As everybody has been asking, where are the buses?
“Those buses were under manufacturing. And so, immediately, some became available as a result of testing. If you go to those buses, you will see the testing logo. Once the testing is done, we start rolling out, as we promised.
“So, yesterday, we did the first one in Ibadan. Today, we are in Lagos. Very soon, we are going to the Federal Capital Territory as well as Ilorin. These will be the first four cities,” he stated.
Oluagbemi stressed that more cities would benefit from the CNG bus programme, stating that 531 buses will be made available to commercial drivers in the first phase.
“We are expecting, under the first phase of the procurement by the Federal Minister of Finance, 531 buses.
“They are available on a partnership basis with these transport operators, as promised by Mr President. The money that is used to purchase them will be recovered over a period of time steadily, from the fares that the passengers will be paying to ensure that we can acquire more, and more will be available to Nigerian people,” he stated.
The Oniru expressed gratitude to President Tinubu and the Federal Government for including his kingdom in the initiative. He promised the government of the community’s support, stating that the initiative would significantly enhance the economy of Iruland, particularly in terms of job creation.
This article was written by Tamaraebiju Jide, a student at Elizade University
