CNG: Lanre Shittu Seeks Govt Support for Local Auto Firms with Capacity

Bennett  Oghifo

Lanre Shittu Motors has called on the Federal Government to support indigenous automobile companies that have the capacity to mass-produce compressed natural gas-powered vehicles in order to sustain the CNG campaign in Nigeria.

Managing Director of Lanre Shittu Motors, Mr. Taiwo Shittu, stated this in Lagos on Friday while speaking with journalists on the company’s readiness to flood the market with locally-assembled full CNG buses.

After fuel subsidy removal, President Bola Tinubu had launched the Presidential CNG Initiative (Pi-CNG) in October 2023 as a vehicle to deliver cheaper, safer and more climate-friendly automobiles. 

The President said using natural gas to power the nation’s transportation industry would reduce costs, enhance productivity and save the Nigeria trillions of naira spent on petrol and diesel importation.

The LSM MD, who spoke along with the Deputy Managing Director of the company, Lukman Shittu, on the features and benefits of the mass transit buses, said the vehicles are 100 per cent CNG and assembled in Nigeria.

He said, “What we are selling is an engine built on CNG. It is better than a hybrid diesel engine and a converted diesel engine. Our engine will run over a million miles.

“We are therefore investing heavily in the CNG project. We’re rolling out 100 units in the first phase. We are doing this with the support of our banks.

“We expect government to support and identify companies with the capacity to sustain the campaign.”

He specifically said the support could come through funding, grants and tax incentive.

Taiwo expressed the full support of Lanre Shittu Motors for the Federal Government’s CNG initiative, saying, “This is the only way to save the country now.”

He listed the local content components of the LSM-branded vehicles put at 20 per cent as glass, seats, fabrications and lube. 

He said, “Government should support us. We have 43-year experience already in this business. We have parts availability worth over N2bn to support this initiative. So we cannot go wrong.

“We have a new facility coming up in Ogun State where we intend to expand our operations. We are also working at manufacturing batteries.”

Also speaking on the issue, the LSM DMD, Lukman said, “We support the whole green energy initiative as a way to reduce carbon from fossil fuels and make our environment safe.”

About 70 per cent, he said, would be saved on operation cost, with CNG being sold at N200-N230/kg, while diesel is sold from N1,200 to N1400/litre, depending on the state.

Lukman spoke on the company deploying mobile CNG refilling stations to different locations across the country.

“We are looking at getting support so we can deploy mobile CNG stations across different locations; we can install for people around their locations,” he said.

He also said, “We are not only concerned about our buses alone; we are also interested in helping the government in any way we can to make this CNG initiative a reality. The important thing is how to save cost for transportation in Nigeria.”

He said LSM was already working on some electric charging stations apart from the CNG initiative. 

“We have a site in Lekki, an auto hub; it will have the CNG refilling station as well. It is almost completed. The last two things that are coming in now are the solar-panel electric charging station and the CNG refueling station. 

“Lekki is the pilot phase. And we are ready to partner with any state government that is interested in this.”