The Ogun State Government has revealed its plans to commence the construction of bus stations for the take-off of the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Mass Transit scheme along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway axis.
The Ogun State Commissioner for Transportation, Engr Dairo Olugbenga, disclosed this while speaking on a radio programme in Abeokuta, on Thursday, said the stations are to be sited within the Mowe, Ibafo Arepo, and Berger axis of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.
The commissioner noted that construction of the CNG bus stations along the ever-busy expressway will commence soon as necessary implementation frameworks have been put in place.
According to Olugbenga, the construction of the CNG bus stations would help reduce environmental pollution by reducing emissions and promoting a cleaner and safer environment in the state.
- In his words, “I want to use this medium to plead to our people for their support, as this is another integral part of development geared towards easing the movement of people and goods in Ogun State, which will serve as a respite to environmental pollution by reducing emissions and promote a cleaner and safer environment in the state.”
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The commissioner disclosed that the CNG-powered mass transit buses would be deployed to the Lagos-Ibadan expressway corridor for cheaper and safer movement in advance of the construction of the bus stations.
Furthermore, Olugbenga highlighted infrastructure, law compliance, operation, and price control as the key elements that control the process of operating the urban transportation system in Ogun State.
- He said: “We need to let our people know that there are four applicable and adopted ways to transportation, and that is infrastructure, which if you observe during our first tenure, the Governor has worked on bad roads in all the local government areas across the state and work is still on-going.
- “The second is law enforcement, which will ensure all road users comply with rules and regulations guiding the usage of the roads, fostering security and safety of passengers and drivers while the third is operation.
- “We are going to formalise transport operation, in that, whoever is going into it must have between 10 to 30 buses under him.
- “Current operators will be encouraged to coalesce into cooperatives. This will aid proper management and monitoring of the movement of goods and people in the state.
- “Aside from this, there is price control. This administration is further working on providing affordable transportation for the good people of Ogun State.”
CNG is an enviable innovation but I have a serious reservation about saboteurs. From 2014, for instance, campaigns for adoption of cooking gas in lieu of kerosene as cooking apparatus were so vociferous that virtually every household changed for the latter to the former. But at the end of the day, saboteurs hijacked the system and the rest is history as cooking gas is unreachable, no thanks to economic saboteurs.
Now converting from petrol to CNG may be proclaimed cheaper, but I promise you that with the passing of time, it will be as unaffordable as petrol itself. This is Nigeria everything goes.