The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has expressed concern over the lack of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) filling stations across the country, urging the Federal Government to take decisive action if it is serious about promoting CNG as an alternative energy source.
NLC President, Joe Ajaero, made this call on Friday in Yola while leading union leaders to commission CNG-powered buses designated for the North East region.
He also encouraged the Adamawa State Government to harness its abundant sunlight to develop solar power as a solution to the persistent national grid failures.
Speaking at the unveiling of 10 CNG buses for the North East Zone, Ajaero explained that these vehicles are part of the 90 CNG buses acquired from the Federal Government.
However, he lamented that only 10 were allocated to the entire North East, a number he deemed insufficient even for Adamawa State alone.
“We are giving these few that we have to tell the Federal Government that we will always do our part,” he stated, emphasizing that the absence of CNG filling stations across the country poses a major challenge.
“As we are commissioning these buses today here, just like in other places, there are no CNG filling stations. The essence of CNG buses will be defeated if there are no facilities to obtain the CNG,” Ajaero stressed.
The NLC President further explained that the buses were supplied with three months of free Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), but their operation would be unsustainable without CNG infrastructure.
“We plead that within the next three months, there should be CNG filling stations and other infrastructure like conversion kits all over the country,” he urged.
Highlighting Adamawa’s solar energy potential, Ajaero advised the state government to capitalize on its sunny climate to develop independent power sources.
“You have sun in abundance, so you can have power that is your own, power that nobody can switch off unless they can switch off the sun,” he said.