Follow Us on Google
Students of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) will now pay N150 per stop under the Federal Government Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) transport scheme being introduced to reduce transportation costs in tertiary institutions.
The Group Chief Executive Officer of Femadec Group, Fola Akinola, announced the fixed fare at a press conference in Lagos yesterday. He said the scheme was designed to ensure that students would continue to pay N150 per stop irrespective of changes in transportation costs in the coming months or years.
“What this means is that irrespective of what happens in the next couple of months or years, we intend to keep transportation costs for students per stop at N150,” Akinola said
He added that the initiative would also provide subsidised CNG vehicle conversion kits to academic staff with flexible payment terms to enable them convert their personal vehicles without paying the full cost upfront. The offer, he said, is also open to the public.
The scheme will also involve the deployment of five new CNG-powered buses to universities, with UNILAG among the institutions included in the first phase of the programme.
The representative of the Presidential Initiative on Compressed Natural Gas and Electric Vehicles (Pi-CNG), Tosin Coker, said 100 buses had been pledged for 20 universities under the first phase of the programme. According to him, five buses are currently allocated to Lagos, while additional buses are being deployed to other states.
Coker said the government would continue to make CNG conversion kits available based on demand. He said transportation accounted for about 30 percent of the daily expenses of an average household, making the reduction of transport costs particularly important for students who do not earn regular incomes.
Other News
“It is essential to note that transportation costs for the average household is about 30 percent of their daily expenses. But, consider university students who are not even working, so how much more of a percentage is on their own expenses?” he said.
Coker said the Federal Government was supporting the programme as a market enabler, rather than intending to permanently subsidise the operations of CNG transport services. He said the objective was to ensure that CNG-powered transportation remained affordable while allowing operators to recover their investments and sustain the services.
He said CNG infrastructure was currently available in 26 states, adding that the government expected the network to expand as private-sector investment increased. He revealed that the Federal Government was working with private operators to create conditions for investment in CNG infrastructure while ensuring that the benefits reached consumers.
The Deputy Vice-Chancellor, UNILAG, Muyiwa Falaiye who represented the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola, said the university welcomed the initiative because of its potential to reduce transportation costs for students and staff.
Falaiye said the project would help make transportation within and around the university more affordable, adding that the university was grateful to be among the institutions hosting the programme.
However, the CNG station at UNILAG has not yet been commissioned, with the organisers saying some regulatory processes and safety approvals were still being completed.
