By Clare Nnabuike,Minna
Motorists in Minna the Niger state capital have besieged the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation NNPC mega station in the state capital in protest over the non availability of the Compressed Natural Gas CNG.
Vanguard learnt that the motorists had looked forward to having the CNG buses in the last three months despite the huge cost incurred in converting their vehicle engines from Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to the more affordable and eco-friendly CNG they have not been able to get the product.
The protesters lamented that the shortage has defeated the aim of converting their vehicles to CNG as a cost-saving measure. They complained that when they stormed the the NNPC Mega Station along the Western Bypass axis that they were frustrated over the prolonged shortage.
Vanguard findings have shown that a component of the CNG dispensing machine at the station developed a fault and was left unattended to, leaving motorists with CNG engines in the entire state capital with no alternative but to rely on the more expensive PMS.
This persistent shortage has imposed additional financial burdens on vehicle owners, who now face increased transportation costs while struggling to keep their vehicles running.
A motorists, Engr. Israel Ogbonnaya, told Vanguard that vehicle owners with CNG engines are now left with no other option than to stage a protest saying several visits to the station for answers had yielded no answers.
He said “It is so discouraging, that for three months now, the CNG station at NNPC Minna has not functioned. Imagine that since January some people did conversion, they have not recovered their money.
“The CNG broke down, nobody has spoken to us. We have come here several times demanding answers from the management and nobody is talking.
“So for now, we want to bring the attention of Nigerians and those in authority to the situation in Minna. CNG is the heartbeat of the President. He commissioned a committee to look into these scheme and these people are taking us for granted”.
Another motorists, Mohammed Doko Saidu who expressed his displeasure over the development, said he wondered why Government championed the conversion to CNG without ensuring there were adequate facilities across States to meet the needs of motorists.
He said “the frustrating aspect of all this is that I just installed CNG, spending over a million naira, without a single gas in Minna; hoping that it is going to be fixed today, it is going to be fixed tomorrow and up to this moment, there is nothing.
“Nobody is saying anything, the station is just lying fallow. In short, I have to disconnect some of the cylinders Installed in my car because there is no gas, what kind of government are we in? It is frustrating”.
The protest, which was very peaceful, saw the motorists call on the station’s management and concerned stakeholders to urgently address the situation and restore CNG supply or risk another round of protest which, he said would involve a much larger crowd of aggrieved motorists including commercial tricycle operators who run on CNG
The Manager of the NNPC Mega Station could not be reached for comments at press time, as attendants on duty declined to speak on behalf of Management.
The director of the Niger state ministry of transport Alhaji Muhammad Abdullah who spoke with Vanguard on Sunday said the protest was not under the ministry but the NNPC. He said the ministry’s own had not taken off, they were still working on their own.
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