Nigeria: Press zooms in on plans by govt. to launch 1m CNG vehicles by 2027, others

APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The plans by the Nigerian Government to introduce one million Compressed Natural Gas powered vehicles by 2027 is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Wednesday.
The Punch reports that the Nigerian Government has revealed plans to introduce one million Compressed Natural Gas powered vehicles by 2027.
The announcement was made by the Special Assistant to the President on Special Duties and Domestic Affairs, Toyin Subaru, during a stakeholders’ meeting held on Sunday at the Bank of Industry headquarters in Abuja.
As part of this initiative, Subaru disclosed that 11,500 CNG-powered buses are expected to be deployed this week.
This move aims to address transportation challenges exacerbated by recent subsidy removal, providing a viable solution to the public.
The Federal Government assured that the introduction of CNG buses will significantly lower the price of CNG to N230 per kg, making it an affordable and eco-friendly option for the citizens.
The newspaper says that the Nigerian Government has set aside N575.6bn in its special funding budget to boost the fight against insecurity and prosecute the ongoing anti-insurgency war.
Under this, a total of N184.25bn was approved for the purchase of military equipment, arms and ammunition.
This latest figure was contained in the N2.18tn supplementary budget for the 2023 fiscal year approved by the Federal Executive Council on Monday.
Details of the 2023 supplementary budget obtained by our correspondent on Tuesday indicated that out of this N552.6bn, the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces have been allocated over N147.03bn to upscale internal operations against Boko Haram, bandits, kidnappers and other anti-insurgency wars.
Of the eight military and defence agencies allocated the total sum, the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Air Force and the Nigerian Navy will get N211.5bn, N112.2bn and N62.8bn, respectively. The three forces got the largest chunk of the military budget.
Out of this amount, recurrent expenditure will gulp over N245.1bn and capital expenditure, N329.99bn.
Speaking at the end of this week’s Federal Executive Council meeting at the Aso Villa, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Bagudu, said the budget is to “fund urgent issues including national defence and security.”
Bagudu said, “N605bn for national defence and security is to sustain the gains made in security and to accelerate and these are funds that are needed by the security agencies before the year runs out.”
The Guardian reports that the Executive Secretary/CEO of Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Dr. Ogbonnaya Orji, has said Nigeria lost over N16.25 trillion due to oil theft in the country.
Orji in a report to the report to the Chairman, House Committee on Public Accounts, Bamidele Salam, during an interactive session in Abuja, also claimed that $74.386 billion was spent on fuel subsidy by successive administrations since 2011.
According to him, the Agency has compiled the actual amount paid as subsidy on yearly basis. Orji claimed that the compilation was based on data collated and signed off by operators in the industry and other stakeholders.
According to him, NEITI also uncovered over $8.3 billion unremitted revenue by some privately owned oil firms and Federal Government-owned Agencies which was not paid into the Federation Account, in deviant to provisions in the extant financial regulations.
He, however, noted that the Agency is working with various enforcement Institutions including Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and related offences Commission (ICPC) as well as Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) in the bid to recover the find into government’s coffers.
He said: “I have here, for instance, revenues we have earned from oil and gas since 1999. We also have here all the subsidy payments made. Since 2005 when it became a scandal, we began to collect the data. We began to ask question on subsidy and as at 2021, the country had paid, $74.386 billion on subsidy.
“And we have breakdown of what was paid each year. We have also got a conversion of what that can possibly translate to.”
He also informed the gathering that, $16.25 billion was lost to oil theft in Nigeria stating that the data was arrived at from a data collected from various sign offs by operators and government agencies.
The Vanguard says that the Canadian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Jamie Christoff said his country has earmarked $18 million for Nigeria’s humanitarian responses.
This came as the Canadian Government expressed readiness to support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda by supporting the humanitarian and poverty alleviation response in Nigeria.
The Canadian High Commissioner revealed this when he led a team to visit the Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu in Abuja.
Ambassador Christoff said the Canadian government has committed to putting in $152 million as part of its assistance to the country for various programs. However, a small portion has been earmarked for humanitarian response.
He said some of the general funds will be spent in Nigeria to focus on vulnerable women and young girls across the country.
The ambassador lauded the establishment of the Humanitarian and Poverty Alleviation Trust Fund, saying it is a welcome development that will aid better coordination with the government at the driver’s seat. He noted that it would be of interest to the Canadian government.
“I am here with my team to register our support for the mandate of the President in his efforts to alleviate poverty and reduce humanitarian crises in Nigeria through your ministry,” he said.
Responding, the Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu, while commending the High Commissioner for finding time out of his busy schedule to visit her and for his kind words on President Tinubu’s initiative, assured him of a mutual working relationship.
Edu informed the High Commissioner of the determination of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to significantly tackle multi-dimensional poverty and humanitarian crises in Nigeria by 2030, in line with the SDG target.
GIK/APA