Subsidy savings: Govs reject accountability blame, offer CNG as answer to hardship

•Move to cut transport fares, food prices

By From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye

The 36 state governors have rejected suggestion that states have failed to account for increased revenues accruing to them following the removal of petrol subsidy, as controversy over the policy and its impact on Nigerians gather momentum.

Rather, the governors, under the aegis of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), are pushing a nationwide Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) transit programme to slash transport fares and trigger a corresponding reduction in the prices of food and other commodities.

Their intervention adds another dimension to the raging national debate over fuel subsidy, its removal and what governments have done with the additional revenues generated since President Bola Tinubu scrapped the regime on May 29, 2023.

Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, who spoke after the Forum’s meeting in Abuja yesterday, dismissed suggestions that state governments had failed to account for the increased funds accruing to them after subsidy removal.

“That cannot be true. But we’ll leave that debate for another day,” he said.

The governors instead threw their weight behind the proposed National Affordable CNG Transit Programme (NACTP), a state-led initiative expected to use cheaper gas-powered transportation to reduce fares and cushion the impact of the rising cost of living.

Under the proposed scheme, states would support the conversion of vehicles to CNG, provide fleets and facilitate the development of necessary infrastructure, while participating transport operators would commit to reducing passenger fares.

The governors did not announce a commencement date, saying the financing and implementation framework still required further consideration.

But Diri said the intervention could go beyond cheaper passenger fares because transportation constitutes a substantial part of the cost of moving food and other goods across the country.

“Transportation is key,” he said, explaining that the cost of moving goods from “point A to point B” is ultimately transferred to consumers.

According to him, reducing transportation costs through CNG would consequently have a “multiplier effect” on the prices of goods and services.

He said gas was cheaper than petrol and could substantially reduce the operating costs of commercial transport vehicles.

The governors’ position comes as fuel subsidy again dominates national political discourse, with President Tinubu and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, locked in an increasingly bitter exchange over the policy.

Atiku has proposed targeted support for domestic petroleum production, arguing that government intervention could reduce fuel prices and ease the cost-of-living crisis.

The Presidency has rejected his prescription and questioned how such an intervention would be financed without recreating the huge fiscal burden associated with the former subsidy regime.

Asked whether the governors discussed calls for the return of subsidy, Diri pointed to the CNG programme as their practical response to the hardship associated with its removal.

“The impact is expected to be on our people — the very common man that we all talk about,” he said.

The intervention effectively places the governors behind an alternative route in the subsidy debate: rather than returning to petrol subsidy, they want to reduce Nigerians’ dependence on petrol and bring down transportation costs through CNG.

The NGF communiqué said the governors “noted the initiative’s potential to ease transportation costs” and agreed that its financing and implementation framework required further consideration.

The Forum also received a presentation from the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Jumoke Oduwole, on opportunities for states to participate in CANEX Weekend 2026 and the Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF) 2027, both scheduled for Lagos.

The governors said the platforms would provide opportunities for states to showcase investment-ready projects, promote local exports and tourism, and connect state-based micro, small and medium enterprises with African and international investors and buyers.

They assured the minister of their support for the initiatives.