FG to Subsidise CNG Conversion, Deploy Buses to 20 Universities

The Federal Government has announced plans to subsidise the conversion of vehicles owned by university lecturers and other workers to Compressed Natural Gas, CNG, as part of efforts to reduce transportation costs on university campuses.

The government also plans to deploy CNG-powered buses to selected universities, with fares capped at N150 per trip.

The first phase of the initiative will cover 20 public universities, with 100 CNG buses expected to be deployed under the pilot programme.

A member of the Presidential Initiative on CNG Electric Vehicles, PCNGI-EV, Tosin Coker, disclosed this on Thursday in Lagos during a press briefing to sensitise the public on the CNG Campus Transportation Fare Reduction, also known as Project SPROUT’s Campus Transport Scheme.

The briefing was held at the main gate of the University of Lagos, UNILAG, Akoka.

Coker said the initiative was designed to reduce transportation expenses for students, lecturers and other university workers, adding that it was part of the Federal Government’s commitment to an earlier agreement with the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU.

He said, “About two years ago, when the Federal Government, through the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President, brokered a peace deal with the leaders of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, one of the promises made was to reduce transport cost and we are continuing in the fulfilment of the promise.

“We know that an average household spends over 20 per cent of their income on transportation. We are determined to reduce that.

“To start with, 100 CNG buses are to be deployed in pilot universities for the scheme which will eventually go round our campuses.”

Coker added that lecturers, other university staff and members of the public would be able to convert their vehicles to CNG at designated conversion centres, with the Federal Government subsidising part of the cost.

He said the payment arrangement would also be made affordable and accessible to beneficiaries.

Also speaking, the Chief Executive Officer of FEMADEC Group, Fola Akinnola, whose organisation is partnering with the presidential team on the project, said Project SPROUT was designed to provide sustainable relief from rising transportation costs for students and university workers.

Akinnola said the scheme was based on the use of locally available gas resources as an alternative to imported fuel, adding that the model was designed to sustain low fares without relying continuously on government funding.

He said the model was already operating at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, FUTO; the University of Abuja; and Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.

Akinnola said UNILAG was part of the expansion of the model to other campuses, adding that the same dual-track structure being implemented at FUTO, Abuja and Ile-Ife would be extended to the 20 universities covered by the programme.

He added that students would pay N150 per trip under the scheme.

The Deputy Vice-Chancellor of UNILAG, Prof. Muyiwa Falaiye, who represented the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola, said converting vehicles to CNG would help reduce transportation costs.

Falaiye commended the initiative and called for its sustainability across university campuses.