Transport Cost To Crash As Tinubu Announces New Subsidy For Vehicle Owners

The Federal Government has announced intentions to provide road transport union members with a 50% subsidy on compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicle conversion kits.

This was a step toward the goal of converting one million PMS vehicles to compressed natural gas (CNG) by 2027, according to Engineer Michael Oluwagbemi, Program Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Presidential Initiative on CNG.

Speaking on Tuesday in Kaduna at the Presidential Initiative-organized Northern Stakeholders Engagement, Oluwagbemi stated that the Federal Government needs to acquire more than 20,000 conversion kits, which will be promptly implemented for the conversion incentive scheme.

He said,

“We are launching what we call the Conversion Incentive Programme, with members of the NURTW, RTEAN, and NARTO as our immediate focus. This is because they are the operators in the road transport sector providing 90 per cent of the transportation in the country to members of the public.”

“We will be making the conversion kits available to them at a 50% discount, and we are also ensuring that the installation cost is free. We are already negotiating with our partners, who will initiate that project next week.”

Oluwagbemi stated in a Vanguard report that eight conversion centres in four states—Kwara, Lagos Federal District, Rivers, and Okara—have already been picked by the kits to serve as the program’s test sites.

He added that the program will begin to spread to the other 120 conversion vents found throughout the nation.

Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani stated that the government believes it essential to offer more affordable and environmentally friendly energy solutions in this sector to benefit the general public.

“It is in light of the above; that we in Kaduna state, like in any other state across the federation, deemed it necessary to actively support and participate in this FGN initiative, which we believe is a giant stride in the right direction to address a major climatic and economic factor in our transport sectors.”

Represented by the Commissioner for Works, Architect Ibrahim Hamza, the Governor commended the Federal Government’s Initiative setting a phase in switching from petrol powered vehicles to Compressed Natural Gas powered vehicles particularly the buses category.