CNG Intervention Can’t Ease Workers’ Transport Burden – NLC

Three years into the federal government’s Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) intervention, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has declared that the policy has failed to provide the widespread transportation relief promised to Nigerian workers following the removal of petrol subsidy.

The labour centre said the limited number of CNG vehicles, inadequate refuelling infrastructure and restricted coverage of subsidised mass transit had left workers grappling with high transportation costs, which continue to fuel the rising cost of living.

NLC president, Comrade Joe Ajaero, questioned the impact of the CNG policy, particularly the availability of conversion facilities and the number of vehicles that had been converted to gas-powered vehicles.

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Speaking on the lingering hardship facing workers, Ajaero asked, “The CNG policy, did it work? Where and where can you refill your tank? How many vehicles have been converted to CNG?”

The concerns came three years after the federal government introduced the CNG initiative as part of measures to cushion the impact of petrol subsidy removal.

The programme was intended to provide cheaper transportation, encourage conversion of petrol-powered vehicles to CNG, expand mass transit and reduce dependence on petrol.

Government had also announced plans to deploy CNG buses and conversion kits, with the broader objective of using Nigeria’s abundant natural gas resources to reduce transportation costs for workers and other Nigerians.

Speaking with LEADERSHIP Weekend exclusively, NLC spokesperson, Comrade Benson Upah, said the intervention had remained too limited to produce the expected economic impact.

“In principle, they are expected to lower the cost of transportation and by extension, the cost of living.

However, in reality, they are far too few and irregular to make an impact. In summary, the depth of intervention is marginal three years later,” Upah said.

The concerns are particularly significant as organised labour pushes transportation and the wider cost of living to the centre of discussions around workers’ earnings.

For workers who spend a substantial portion of their income commuting to and from work, increases in transport fares can substantially reduce the purchasing power of wages.

National secretary of the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council (JNPSNC), Olowoyo Gbenga, told LEADERSHIP Weekend that the government mass-transit interventions have limited impact unless they were sufficiently expanded to serve workers across the country.

He questioned whether the buses being deployed could meet the transportation needs of workers.

He said, “Where are the buses? The only one they are trying to roll out now is electric buses, which they are yet to roll out. They are at the planning stage.

We cannot be only one CNG buse from Gwagwalada to the Central Area and you expect it to convey all workers from Gwagwalada to the Central Area.”

Gbenga puts the transportation question directly alongside the wage issue, noting that wage negotiations cannot be considered in isolation from the costs workers incur in getting to work.

He argued that reducing the cost of fuel would have a wider effect on transportation and the prices of other goods and services.

“Let them bring down the price of fuel. That is the key issue. When you bring down the price of fuel, you realise that every other thing will come down,”, he added.