The Abia Government has announced its plan to secure Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)-powered buses to improve the transport system in the state.
The initiative became necessary to fill the gap created by the government’s new policy restricting the operational hours of tricycles and motorcycles in Umuahia and Aba.
The government had announced that tricycle and motorcycle operators in Umuahia and Aba would be restricted from 6:00 am – 7:00 pm every day from July 1, extending the commencement date for enforcing the restriction policy to August 1.
The new transportation policy in the state was announced by the commissioner of information and culture, Mr Okey Kanu on Monday, during a press conference on the outcome of an executive council meeting in the capital Umuahia.
“As part of the initiatives and incentives to drive this new policy, Abia Government plans to introduce CNG-powered buses to close up whatever gaps that will be created by the full implementation of this restriction policy,” Mr Kanu said.
The commissioner said that the CNG-powered buses were part of measures to ensure ease of movement for commuters when the restriction order commenced.
The state government urged interested tricycle and motorcycle operators to form cooperatives and work in clusters to purchase the CNG-powered buses.
The Nigerian federal government in April said it had concluded plans to launch and deploy CNG vehicles for mass transit in May.
The federal government set up a committee to deliver about one million cheaper, safer and more climate-friendly energy vehicles by 2027.
There are concerns that Nigeria lacks the framework to ensure the effectiveness of the CNG policy, following the federal government’s directives to government offices to convert all petrol or diesel-powered vehicles or generators to CNG.
