This entry fleet is barely half of 5, 500 CNG buses and tricycles projected to hit the transport market by December 31: 400 CNG buses in all, with the remainder made up of tricycles, and some of the stock even powered by electric batteries – designed for areas with limited access to gas: six out of Nigeria’s 36 states.

“From the end of May, Nigeria will take some baby steps to join such nations that already have large fleets of CNG vehicles,” Bayo Onanuga, the president’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, announced on April 21.

This is welcome news, even if it is still some four weeks to delivery time; and the healthy attitude would be rather wait-and-see, until the actual delivery time.

It is nonetheless very exciting because by that time, two major refineries – Dangote and NNPC Ltd’s Port Harcourt plant – should have been pushing out the premium motor spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol. So, perhaps for the very first time in Nigeria’s energy history, CNG and electric autos would compete with diesel and petrol in the transport and general auto market.

That might be the ultimate palliative, since the far lower cost of CNG could help to push down transport cost – a core input to every business – thus driving down the current tear-away cost-push inflation. That at least should be good news for the many households struggling to stay afloat in these harsh economic times; and even some nano ventures, not discounting the small and medium-scale enterprises (SMSEs).

The sustainability of CNG is even all the more exciting: Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s (NNPCL) data says Nigeria boasts 202 trillion cubic feet (tcf) in gas reserves, with recoverable gas from that trove put at 139.4 tcf. That dwarfs the country’s proven reserves in crude oil of 37.1 billion barrels. Therein again lies the strategic investment in CNG. If well managed, it is a good omen for the economy.

Yet, it’s early days. The scope of CNG’s entry into the auto market is nothing but the proverbial drop in the ocean. It may be many years yet before CNG can become active competition for petrol.

But if really the morning shows the day, the government and its partners must get this investment right. It must not be another crude oil story, which got so mismanaged it threw away its comparative advantage. The irony: it was that mismanagement, with barely no local refineries, that prompted CNG as a viable alternative, since subsidy on petroleum products had to go.

Yet, that crash points to a CNG-aided economy of the future, if the right steps are taken now. For a start, it is good that the government and private sector partners have already invested over US$ 50 million on refuelling stations and conversion centres. But more of those investments are needed, if CNG must penetrate the market.

Still, they all should start as entry point into a vastly expanded auto industry, leading local auto researchers and investors to exploit CNG for Nigerian indigenous auto brands that can compete with foreign and imported ones.

That way, CNG would not only boast short-term gains, it could also become a veritable strategy to provide future jobs for millions of Nigerian youths, in new CNG car lines, without prejudice to foreign assembly plants, which may take the earliest advantage to set up local shops here.

In all of these, however, constant power is critical. So, while CNG-powered vehicles could offer short-term public transport solution aside from being the slayer of inflation, it offers an additional incentive to sort out the power problem once and for all.

On electric autos – a sub-set of the new CNG intervention – the president just told the Dutch Prime Minister that Nigerian lithium – the crucial raw material for batteries that power electric cars – can light up the entire European Union (EU). The real deal, however, should be using Nigeria lithium to power new lines of Made-in Nigeria electric cars.

That’s doable with the right set of investments, using the CNG era as fresh start.

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