The Federal Government and state governments have agreed to take immediate steps to reduce transportation costs across Nigeria, with the measures expected to begin taking effect from October 1, 2026, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has said.
Tinubu disclosed this in a statement shared on his Facebook page after a meeting with the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, saying the initiative would focus particularly on expanding the use of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and electric vehicles for public transportation.
According to the President, the governors agreed to the measures as part of efforts to ensure that the benefits of Nigeria’s energy transition translate into lower transportation costs for citizens.
Tinubu said more than 120,000 vehicles had already been converted from petrol to CNG across the country, while preparations were underway to provide more than 100,000 additional conversion kits.
He added that the government was expanding CNG conversion centres and supporting the development of infrastructure needed to make the fuel more accessible across different parts of the country.
The President said the Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund was supporting more than 100 gas-related projects nationwide, including 15 large-scale CNG stations and 86 smaller stations.
He said some of the projects had been commissioned in Lagos, Abuja and Owerri in May, including a CNG station hub in Lagos and a facility in Abuja designed to serve up to 1,000 cars and tricycles and 50 trucks and buses daily.
Tinubu also announced an additional plan to establish 500 more CNG stations, on top of the 500 stations previously approved by the fund, bringing the number of planned stations to 1,000 nationwide.
The President identified intra-city transportation as one of the areas where Nigerians have felt the impact of rising petrol prices most directly, stressing that state governments have an important role to play in reducing transport fares.
He said the Federal Government and the states had agreed to establish a joint committee to immediately begin implementing measures aimed at lowering transportation costs.
According to Tinubu, vehicles powered by CNG can potentially operate at 60 to 80 per cent lower fuel costs than comparable petrol-powered vehicles, depending on operating conditions and other factors.
The President said the Federal Government's target was for Nigerians to begin experiencing the impact of the initiative through lower transportation fares from October 1.
“We agreed that when the cost of fuel comes down, transportation costs should also come down,” Tinubu said.
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