Motorists in Minna, the Niger State capital, have besieged the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Mega Station to protest the non-availability of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG).
The protesters lamented that the shortage has defeated the aim of converting their vehicles to CNG as a cost-saving measure. They said they were frustrated over the prolonged shortage at the NNPC Mega Station along the Western Bypass.
The persistent shortage, they said, has imposed additional financial burden on vehicle owners, who now face increased transportation costs.
One of the motorists 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 this scheme and these people are taking us for granted.”
Another motorist, Mohammed Doko Saidu, expressed displeasure over the development, wondering why government championed conversion to CNG without ensuring adequate facilities across states.
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 peaceful protesters called on the station’s management and relevant stakeholders to urgently restore CNG supply or risk another round of protest involving a larger crowd, 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.
