CNG, Electric Buses Cut Fares by Up to 83% in 7 States, FCT—Tinubu

The federal government has said that commuters in seven states and the Federal Capital Territory are currently paying between 31 and 83 per cent less on routes served by new CNG and electric buses.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu made the disclosure in a post on his official X handle on Saturday, which came with an infographic titled “Cheaper transport, real savings.” The infographic cites State governments and PI-CNG & EV as its sources.

The deepest cut is in Borno, where CNG and electric city services charge ₦50 to ₦100 on routes where commercial operators charge ₦300 to ₦600, a reduction of about 83 per cent, according to the President.

In Oyo, he said, CNG buses deployed to Pacesetter Transport cut the Lagos–Ibadan fare from about ₦8,000 to ₦3,200 during the initial deployment, or 60 per cent. In Plateau, government-supported buses carry about 13,000 commuters daily for ₦200, against more than ₦500 commercially, a cut of at least 60 per cent.

Adamawa’s alternative-energy transit services have reduced fares by as much as 50 per cent, including from ₦8,000 to ₦4,000, he said. In Enugu, where 100 CNG buses have been deployed, the Enugu–Nsukka fare fell from ₦2,500 to ₦1,500, or 40 per cent. In Niger, passengers on the Suleja–Abuja service pay ₦550 instead of about ₦800, a 31 per cent cut. Abia has deployed 40 electric buses with fares subsidised by 50 per cent.

In the FCT, he said, a partnership with the Nigeria Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) gives passengers on CNG-converted commercial vehicles a 40 per cent fare reduction on several commuter routes. Area 1 to Gwagwalada has dropped from ₦1,500 to ₦900, Nyanya from ₦700 to ₦420, and Wuse from ₦400 to ₦240.

“These are not projections. Nigerians are already experiencing these savings,” Mr Tinubu wrote.

The President recalled that he met the governors of the 36 states on August 27 and they agreed that more Nigerians should begin to see measurable reductions in transport costs from October 1. He said an implementation committee for the National Affordable CNG Transit Programme was subsequently set up under the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, chaired by Kwara State Governor and Forum Chairman AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq.

He said the work had become more urgent because of the current global energy crisis. He said disruptions to global energy supplies were again pushing up petrol and diesel prices and transport costs across the world.

“Nigeria cannot control events in global energy markets. But as a gas-rich nation, we can reduce our exposure,” he wrote.

He also rejected a return to petrol subsidy. “At a time like this, our answer cannot be to return to the ruinous petrol subsidy regime that consumed trillions of naira and left our economy exposed to every movement in international oil prices, as some have suggested,” he said.