We have been tottering on the issue of Compressed Natural Gas, CNG, for which a comprehensive national policy has been assumedly enunciated over two years.
Indeed, it is several months now that the Federal Government unveiled what it called a plan to convert 200,000 commercial vehicles to run on Compressed Natural Gas, CNG, or Autogas, we are still witnessing retarded steps towards achieving the goal. It has been so much talk and little walk as it appears.
Preparatory to the withdrawal of the Federal Government from payment of petrol subsidies during the Muhammadu Buhari administration it was assumed that a comprehensive picture that it was taking steps to cushion the effects of the policy through the introduction of the novel alternative to petrol and diesel, which it claimed would be cheaper for end-users.
Former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, invited stakeholders such as officials of Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigerian, MOMAN; Depots and Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, DAPMAN; and others to a meeting and promised that government would subsidise the cost of conversion to Autogas up to 50%. It is embarrassing that years later, since the administration’s tenure expired, nothing has been on ground to justify the robust promises.
President Bola Tinubu, who replaced Buhari, pronounced the end of subsidy payment from his inauguration podium. When his precipitate verbal decree resulted in immediate price hikes and extreme scarcity, the new administration dusted up Buhari’s CNG policy as one of the means by which it would give relief to petrol consumers and the public. It was one of the promises it made to Organised Labour to postpone an indefinite mass action.
Petrol price has risen from the N180 per litre that Tinubu met it to between N900 and N1,300, yet not a single vehicle has been converted. Not much of the promise to release 3,000 CNG-fuelled buses has been seen in concrete action. Many vehicle owners, especially commercial operators, are no longer able to keep their businesses running on the extremely scarce and expensive petrol price.
Many vehicle owners are still in the dark as to how the CNG system works, how it will reduce the cost of operation and how they can avail themselves of it. Many people who latched on to the fad of conversion of their generator and vehicle carburettors to gas have since discovered that it is a waste of time and money, more so as the cost of gas has risen due to sudden high demand.
It is of worry that President Tinubu is the Oil Minister and like his predecessor, he is not making quick impact in that sector. There are no clear strategies that the regime has perfected to clean up the industry and implement programmes that will make petroleum products once more available and affordable. Our watchers are predictably bothered that Tinubu is just following the trend of his predecessor who as Minister of Petroleum Resources was more of a lame duck than active.
How much longer are Nigerians, especially commercial transporters, going to wait for the release of the CNG vehicles and massive conversion of vehicles to gas? Or, is government merely playing on the intelligence of the people while the oil sector sharks continue to feed off their lean pockets?
Besides, we are concerned that public information on the CNG programme is scanty and inaccessible to many motorists and vehicle owners who are ‘illiterate’ and would not understand the current drift.
While we commend the FG for distributing 2000 commercial tricycles to transport unions recently, we see this as a drop of water in the ocean as the parlance goes.
We urge the government to open up several opportunities for vehicle owners to access CNG unhindered, as it would ameliorate the pains of vehicle owners and commuters. and further bring down essentially cost of living.
