The federal government has renewed its push to put one million CNG vehicles on Nigeria’s roads, saying the goal is to turn cheaper fuel into cheaper fares for commuters after the removal of the petrol subsidy.

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, gave the directive in Abuja while receiving progress reports from the Presidential Initiative on CNG and Electric Vehicles and the Decade of Gas Secretariat, according to a statement Sunday by his spokesman, Louis Ibah.

What the government is asking for

Ekpo told the two bodies to prioritize key interventions, raise investment, expand refueling infrastructure and strengthen adoption programs nationwide. He said the government’s autogas policy must deliver real benefits, especially lower transport fares.

He called Nigeria “a gas nation” and said its abundant reserves offer a chance to cut transport costs, deepen domestic gas use and stimulate growth. The effort, he said, follows President Bola Tinubu’s directive to make transportation cheaper through CNG.

Ismaeel Ahmed, who chairs the presidential initiative, said it would step up investment and programs to expand CNG infrastructure and conversions. Ed Ubong, coordinator of the Decade of Gas Secretariat, described CNG as a key part of Nigeria’s energy transition.

Progress so far on CNG vehicles

Data from the initiative shows about 120,000 vehicles have been converted to CNG so far, roughly 12% of the one million target. The goal covers commercial petrol vehicles and is due by the end of 2027.

In June 2025, the program’s head said the country had gone from about 4,000 CNG vehicles, mostly in Edo State, to well over 50,000, not counting trucks.

Reaching one million by the end of 2027 would mean converting about 880,000 more vehicles in roughly 14 months, or around 60,000 a month.

Will fares really fall?

The government has pushed states to lower fares. Tinubu said in August that governors agreed under the Nigeria Governors’ Forum to cut fares by using the lower operating costs of CNG and electric vehicles, and the federal government had set Oct. 1 as the date for Nigerians to begin seeing reductions.

Lagos received 20 high capacity CNG buses from the initiative last month. The Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority says CNG and electric buses have helped it keep fares in the regulated bus system from rising even as diesel prices went up.

That is not the same as cutting fares. Holding them steady is a smaller promise than lowering them, and reports so far show no national fare cut.

Kaduna offers a closer test. Tinubu said 100 CNG buses there carried about 3.2 million passengers in their first year and saved commuters more than N3.5 billion. The state government separately reported 1.4 million passengers and N1.39 billion saved on free CNG bus routes between July and November 2025.

The target is clear enough and the policy has strong political backing. What is still missing is proof that conversions, refueling stations and reliable gas supply can scale together at speed, and that cheaper fuel actually reaches the commuter as cheaper fares.