As a new fuel price regime commences across Nigeria, the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led Federal Government through the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (P-CNGi), has handed over 20 CNG powered buses to Iru Land Transport Company Limited.
The P-CNGi is a component of the palliative intervention of the current Federal Government aimed at providing succour to the common people as a result of effect removal of the fuel subsidy policy of the government.
While addressing the gathering at the formal handover of the CNG buses and the signing ceremony for Lagos Strategic CNG Conversion Partners, P-CNGi Programme Director, Michael Oluwagbemi, said the launch of the first set of CNG buses was targeted at crashing transport cost in Lagos, the commercial nerve of the nation.
He said the Iru Kingdom corridor in the eastern part of the state was partnered because it had established an effective bus scheme. He added that the location would also quickly help the government in demonstrating to Nigerians the impact of CNG buses in lowering transport cost.
Oluwagbemi also disclosed that P-CNGi would also partner Ibile Oil and Gas, a Lagos State Agency, to fast track the conversion of commuter buses through the 12 conversion centres that have been signed on to the P-CNGi programme.
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The Programme Director said procurement of the 20 CNG buses handed to Iru Land Transport Company is like others before it, noting that they were procured by the Federal Ministry of Finance under the palliative programme through local manufacturers with repayment over a period of time through fares paid by the commuters. He, however, did not disclose the time-lag for the repayment for the buses.
His words: ” We delivered 20 buses in Ibadan on Monday and today again, we are in Lagos. We would move to other parts of the country as soon as the buses are assembled by the manufacturers here in Nigeria. Every part of the country will be touched. ”
He reiterated P-CNGi’s earlier statement that to make the policy more widely acceptable, one million petrol based commuter buses will be converted to CNG free-of-charge.
Earlier, in his address at the occasion, the Oniru of Iru Land and former Aide de Camp to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu when he was the Governor of Lagos, thanked President Tinubu, for finding Iru land worth of the partnership.
Oba Gbolahan Lawal, a two time commissioner in Lagos State, said that his kingdom generates over 40% of the revenue in the state noting that his kingdom plays host to several embassies, oil company headquarters, banks, state liason offices and other corporate institutions.
The traditional ruler assured that the 20 CNG powered buses handed over to Iru Land Transport Company, would be put to good use while return on investment is guaranteed.
