By President Bola Tinubu has struck a deal with state governors aimed squarely at cheaper transport fares for Nigerians, following a meeting with the Governors’ Forum on Wednesday afternoon. In a statement issued from the Aso Villa, Tinubu said he was pleased with the discussion, noting that the governors had, on their own initiative, resolved to take immediate measures to bring down the cost of transportation in their states, with a strong focus on leveraging the cost benefits of CNG and electric vehicles.
The push for cheaper transport fares rests heavily on the Federal Government’s ongoing energy transition. Tinubu pointed to the Presidential CNG Initiative, through which more than 120,000 vehicles have already been converted nationwide, with over 100,000 additional conversion kits currently in the works. Conversion centres and refuelling infrastructure, he said, continue to expand across the country alongside this effort.
The infrastructure behind cheaper transport fares
Tinubu detailed the scale of investment driving the promise of cheaper transport fares. Through the Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund, the government is financing more than 100 gas projects nationwide, including 15 CNG mother stations and 86 daughter stations. In May, he personally commissioned four of these projects in Lagos, Abuja and Owerri, among them a 15-station refuelling network in Lagos and an Abuja facility capable of serving 1,000 cars and tricycles and 50 trucks and buses a day.
To accelerate progress toward cheaper transport fares, Tinubu said he has directed the rollout of an additional 500 CNG refuelling stations nationwide, on top of the 500 stations already ordered earlier in the year by the Fund, bringing the total programme to 1,000 stations across the country.
Why states hold the key to cheaper transport fares
Tinubu was direct about where the real impact lies. Intra-state transport, he said, is where Nigerians feel the cost most directly, and it is where the states hold the levers. He expressed encouragement that the governors were moving to bring these benefits closer to the people they serve, and announced that both tiers of government have agreed to set up a joint Federal and State committee to begin implementing measures for cheaper transport fares immediately.
The economics, Tinubu argued, make the case on their own: a vehicle running on CNG spends 60 to 80 per cent less on fuel than one running on petrol. From October 1, the goal is for Nigerians to begin feeling that difference directly through cheaper transport fares.
“We have agreed that cheaper fuel should result in cheaper fares,” Tinubu said, adding that each tier of government must keep doing its part and work together for the benefit of every Nigerian. He closed the statement with the words “Nigeria First.”
