The Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (P-CNGi) says it has deployed 160 CNG buses through its transport union partners and sub-nationals, to cushion the effect of high transport cost occasioned by fuel subsidy removal.
Mr Michael Oluwagbemi, Programme Director/Chief Executive, P-CNGi, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday.
Oluwagbemi said they had already deployed 75 buses to the Nigerian Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) and the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) through the Ministry of Transportation.
He said among the buses deployed to the unions, five each were dedicated for intra-state and 20 each for inter-state.
“Last year, during the yuletide we deployed 160 CNG buses to our union partners, through the Ministry of Transportation, namely – NURTW, RTEAN and NARTO.
“We deployed 75 buses through the transport unions and another 85 buses totaling 160 buses to the state government affiliated mass transit companies including Oyo, Ekiti, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos states and FCT among others.
“All of these transport companies, affiliated with the state government received different levels of buses, some received 15, 20, 25 and 30 buses and they have started operations.
“In the case of pacesetters transport company, Oyo for example, we deployed 15 buses, and during the yuletide from Lagos to Ibadan they were able to bring down the prices to N3, 200 on a route that normally cost N8,000.
“People that were using patrol buses also experienced a discount because there was pressure on the price of transportation within the parks that they loaded which brought down the price to N6,000.
“These are some of the benefits that we are beginning to see from the deployment of CNG vehicles across Nigeria.
“What we intend to do this year is to focus and concentrate on deployment between Lagos and Abuja and also work with the sub-nationals to fill the gaps across Nigeria,’’ he said.
He said that 15 of the buses were deployed for intra-state, while 60 were for inter-state.
According to Oluwagbemi, all the buses deployed to the various states have started operating at 50 per cent discount, with an effective monitoring system.
He said that the FCT residents had enjoyed 40 days free rides on the buses as part of the benefits of the administration.
The P-CNGi CEO said that residents of FCT were currently enjoying a 30 per cent discount on any ride following the expiration of the free ride.
According to him, in order to enjoy this benefit, Nigerians should get on the buses by utilising specific parks operated by these unions and get a card which monitors the number of passengers on board.
“Ultimately, this is the journey; it starts by us recognising that we should utilise our God’s given resources, which is natural gas, to power this economy and make sure we reduce the cost of transportation and enhance the quality of lives of Nigerians.”
The P-CNGi is a component of the palliative intervention of the President Bola Tinubu administration directed at providing succour to the masses, occasioned by the transitive hardships of the fuel subsidy removal policy. (NAN)
