Three years after the federal government began pushing for the use of compressed natural gas (CNG)-powered vehicles in Nigeria, following the surge in the price of premium motor spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, many car dealers have not keyed into the initiative.
While buses and tricycles are being converted to CNG engines, cars are still mostly running on petrol.
During a market survey by TheCable, the publication learnt that in 2025, auto dealers invested billions of naira in importing cars into Nigeria; petrol-powered cars accounted for the majority of the investment, while only one private vehicle with a dual engine — consisting of CNG and petrol — was brought in.
A car dealer Samson Oladipupo said the cost of the CNG-petrol powered vehicle he placed on sale outstrips that of petrol-powered cars as a result of the fuel efficiency.
“Because of the fuel efficiency, this has made the price higher than the normal petrol (car). Now, people like a situation whereby they will just say, ‘Okay, this one is N12 million, this one is N10 million or N10.5 million. So why wouldn’t I go for the one of N10 million or N10.5 million?’” he added.
A vehicle owner Lola Adefehinti cited the cost of CNG cars as one of the reasons her automobile company has not commenced sales, adding that she is not a fan of converting petrol-powered cars to CNG due to the risk of errors during the conversion.
Speaking further on the cost involved, Adefehinti said it is not that “we do not want to change it to CNG. When Camry or Corolla was still N1.5 million, if they changed it, they would sell it — you can’t use N500,000 to do everything (conversion) – for N2 million or N2.1 million”.
“But now that even the smallest Corolla is going for N9 million to N11 million, and you want to convert it to CNG, you have to add your money, and you have to add your profit. Do you think people will not complain? So, on our own part? We do not see the reason to change a fuel (petrol) car to CNG because it’s a lot of trouble,” she added.
WHY NIGERIANS ARE NOT DEMANDING CNG-POWERED CARS
Oladipupo said the lack of demand for CNG-powered cars is due to it being an innovation in Nigeria, and people are just understanding it.
“It will take a long time to change people’s perspective on what they are used to doing,” he said.
“We as dealers sell to end users; now, we are investing our capital at first. We bring in cars, and this is the vehicle Nigerians are very aware of. So, suddenly, you want to invest your capital — the one you are investing in petrol cars — you want to shift it to another system entirely.
“It’s like you don’t really know what will come out of it, and for you now to put in your capital there, you know, as a businessman, you need to have some thinking about it; wouldn’t this tie down my capital?
“That’s why we don’t want a situation whereby we just invest.
The CNG Initiative was introduced by the Federal Government in the wake of Fuel subsidy removal crisis as a means to offer a more cleaner, safe, cheaper and efficient means of powering transport.
CNG powered cars are up to 50% more efficient than PMS fuel cars. The Federal Government of Nigeria has gone further to setup CNG gas stations in all 36states of the country in move to out phase the countries dependence on fuel for transportation.
However, high costs of purchasing brand new CNG cars, conversion of old PMS fuel cars to CNG, lack of adequate Maintenance Engineers as well as poor CNG perspectives by Nigerian Vehicle owners has left the CNG Initiative to rot in abject abandonment.
