With cautious optimism amid rising cost of petrol that has pauperised them, millions of Nigerians are still waiting to see how the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) initiative of the government will turn the tide.

Since the removal of petrol subsidy by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu onMay 29, 2023, a new narrative has been forced into the throats of Nigerians, with stories insisting that CNG remains the only veritable option that will reduce the energy crisis.

There is nothing wrong with this campaign, considering that many countries around the world have covered a lot of ground, giving their citizens affordable options of transportation with direct impact on the economy.

For instance, Pakistan has over 3.5 million CNG vehicles, with many manufacturers offering CNG-compatible models. Iran has over 2.5 million, with government incentives promoting CNG adoption. India has over two million CNG vehicles, with many auto manufacturers offering CNG variants. Argentina has over 1.5 million CNG vehicles, with a well-developed CNG infrastructure, and Brazil has over one million CNG vehicles, with many flex-fuel vehicles capable of running on CNG.

However, in Nigeria, many things are not clear about CNG as an alternative. The federal government announced the CNG initiative in August 2023, to provide relief to Nigerians.

Overall, the move was meant to deploy CNG vehicles in such a way that they would bring down transportation costs, and by implication the ravaging inflation associated with food and other bare necessities of life.

Government officials say the aim was to convert one million vehicles to CNG in three years; plan to finance 200,000 new CNG buses and tricycles across Nigeria by 2027; and to raise $250 million by 2027 to support CNG infrastructure development.

On the eve of Nigeria’s 64thIndependence Anniversary, the federal government handed over 64 CNG-powered buses to the organised labour unions and the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.

It said 100-capacity buses will be distributed across the states and campuses, and described the intervention as a “necessary first step.”

This is good. But in a real sense, it is only symbolic, going by the number of people earnestly waiting for this intervention.

Similarly, it is worrisome, the snail speed at which the kits and other logistics are being rolled out at a time when Nigerians require a supersonic approach.

Soon after the subsidy removal, Tinubu put in place the Presidential CNG Initiative (Pi-CNG) to fast track the process.

But in a recent interview with the Business Day newspaper, Michael Oluwagbemi, the programme director at Pi-CNG, admitted the slow pace of implementation of the programme.

He said: “Any good thing takes time because you must plan. The supply chain to get this project done is global. It is from China, India, Portugal, Poland, and Brazil. That is where all these products come from, and because it is a new industry, we can’t manufacture CNG cylinders, for example.

“We didn’t invent CNG manufacturing kits; even before you place the order, you must plan the order. You must first understand and decide what you are going to do. Then you need to make sure that locally, there is capacity and technical resources. Technicians must be trained because you don’t want to bring a product that works for two months and breaks down and we have to call somebody in India, China, or Brazil to fix it….”

Nigerians are also agitated over safety concerns. On Wednesday, October 16, a CNG-powered vehicle had an explosion at the NIPCO filling station in Aduwawa, Benin, Edo State, leaving three people severely injured.

According to sources, the explosion was traced to a cylinder that had been fabricated by a welder without proper approval. Evidently, it is dangerous that Nigerians are beginning to resort to self-help, apparently because of the high cost of conversion (between N1.2 million and N1.5 million) at government designated centres, and the delay in getting the services for free from government, as promised, especially for some commercial drivers.

We, at Daily Trust, strongly believe that unless something urgent is done in terms of policy direction, the CNG initiative will be worse than the failures we recorded in managing our petroleum wealth.

The workability of the initiative, the rolling out of the infrastructure, and the affordability of the kits must be clearly spelt out so that Nigerians would have confidence in the process.

Oluwagbemi had said that only eight states – Edo, Delta, Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Nasarawa, Kogi, FCT, and Kaduna – have signed up for the initiative so far! This is too small.

While there are only 130 conversion centres, refilling stations are still a far cry.

Again, there is the lack of market-driven pricing mechanism and unclear legal framework.

We believe that, as a matter of urgency, governors should dedicate part of the billions of naira they are getting from the federal government in the form of palliatives and other incentives to support private investors to provide the needed infrastructure for the CNG initiative to work.

They should also convert commercial vehicles to CNG for free and provide discounts for private vehicle owners. They can achieve this seamlessly by working closely with the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and other associations.

We believe the result will be felt within the shortest time in terms of low transportation cost that will bring down cost of food items.

Replacing petrol with CNG in Nigeria is theoretically possible, but it requires significant investment, infrastructure development, and policy support. (Daily Trust Editorial)