…How visionary leadership, engineering ingenuity and disciplined execution have positioned Nigeria as Africa’s fastest-growing CNG market
By Olaoye Samuel
This article is an acknowledgement of a national achievement that deserves wider acclaim than it is currently getting, and of the individuals whose leadership made it possible. Within fewer than three years, Nigeria has become the fastest-growing compressed natural gas market on the African continent. From a base of fewer than 5,000 converted vehicles prior to the launch of the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (Pi-CNG, now Pi-CNG & EV) in 2023, the country has surpassed 100,000 conversions. Accredited conversion centres have grown from approximately seven to well over 380. Thousands of technicians have been trained and certified, private sector investment has accelerated substantially, and an industry that barely existed is now one of the country’s most consequential non-oil growth sectors. To put it simply, in percentage terms, no other African country has expanded its CNG ecosystem at such speed within such a short period.
The significance of this achievement becomes clearer when set against the backdrop from which it emerged. For decades, Nigeria lived with one of the disturbing ironies in global energy: a nation harbouring over 200 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves whose transport sector remained almost entirely dependent on Nigeria’s place in Africa’s CNG story imported refined petroleum products. Issues about CNG sometimes came up in policy discussions but they often dissipated without producing meaningful change. This, perhaps, was because the prospects did not look promising from a myopic point of view. Infrastructure was skeletal, conversion capacity minimal, and investor confidence low. Indeed, for the overwhelming majority of Nigerians, CNG remained an unfamiliar concept with no practical bearing on daily life.
That this grim reality has been so substantially reversed in so short a time is not an accident of circumstance. It is the product of deliberate political will, painstaking institutional design and disciplined execution.
Nigeria’s Place in Africa’s CNG Revolution
It is important to place Nigeria’s accomplishment in proper perspective. Egypt is undoubtedly Africa’s largest CNG market by absolute numbers. Having begun its programme in the early 1990s, it has built an impressive fleet of more than 600,000 CNG vehicles, supported by hundreds of refuelling stations and extensive conversion infrastructure developed over more than three decades. Other countries, including Tanzania, Kenya and South Africa, have also made meaningful progress in promoting cleaner transport fuels.
Nigeria’s distinction, however, lies not in cumulative fleet size but in the extraordinary speed of its transformation. While Egypt’s programme required decades to attain its present scale, Nigeria has recorded an estimated growth of between 800 and over 2,000 per cent in CNG vehicle conversions within less than three years, depending on the baseline adopted. To further clarify the emphasis, between 1995, when Egypt formally launched its NGV programme, and 2005, when it clocked 10 years, the country had only about 63,000 vehicles converted, with 93 stations and 26 conversion centres. Tanzania, which is another good example, only managed to grow from about 1,100 CNG-powered vehicles in 2021 to about 7,000 by mid-2024.
In other words, measured by percentage growth, ecosystem expansion and implementation speed, Nigeria has become Africa’s fastest-growing CNG market. That distinction is historically significant. It demonstrates that with purposeful leadership, effective coordination and sustained implementation, transformational change need not take decades.
However, to judge the initiative solely by the number of converted vehicles would be to overlook its wider significance. Behind every conversion centre established lies investment in infrastructure. Behind every certified technician lies specialised training and employment. Behind every converted commercial vehicle lies the prospect of lower operating costs for transport operators, improved affordability for commuters and reduced pressure on imported petroleum products.
The initiative has also stimulated local enterprise. Engineering firms, equipment suppliers, training institutions, financial organisations and energy marketers have all found new opportunities within an expanding industry that scarcely existed only a few years ago.
Perhaps most importantly, the programme has demonstrated that Nigeria can successfully execute large-scale industrial initiatives when political leadership is matched by competent technical management and consistent implementation.
The Decision That Made It All Possible
The removal of petrol subsidy by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in May 2023 was among the most consequential economic decisions in recent Nigerian history. It generated immediate and understandable controversy, and its costs to households and transport operators were real. Yet within the difficulty lay a strategic opportunity of considerable national significance. If Nigeria could no longer sustain decades of petroleum subsidy, the question became what alternative pathway could simultaneously reduce transport costs, strengthen energy security, attract investment and make productive domestic use of the country’s vast gas resources.
President Tinubu’s response was both practical and forward-looking. Rather than offering temporary relief alone, he established the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative to stimulate large-scale adoption of CNG as a cleaner, more affordable transport fuel while simultaneously creating jobs, attracting investment and strengthening national energy security.
Essentially, the establishment of Pi-CNG signalled a determination to convert Nigeria’s natural gas advantage into a domestic competitive asset, and to do so not through declarations alone but through the construction of an entirely new industrial ecosystem: conversion infrastructure, technician training, supply chains, regulatory coordination, financing mechanisms and sustained private sector participation.
The distinction between announcing a programme and building an institution capable of delivering one is critical, and it is a distinction the administration understood. The subsequent expansion of the initiative’s mandate to encompass electric vehicles, creating the Presidential Initiative on Compressed Natural Gas and Electric Vehicles (Pi-CNG & EV), further confirmed that this was never conceived as a short-term intervention but as the foundation of a broader national transport energy transition.
Engr. Michael Oluwagbemi: The Architect of the Ecosystem
Between a presidential vision and a measurable national outcome lies a demanding terrain of planning, stakeholder engagement, technical standard-setting and institution building. It is precisely in this terrain that many ambitious government programmes lose momentum and fail to progress beyond formal announcements. Pi-CNG was fortunate, in its formative phase, to have been entrusted to a leader who understood that durable transformation could only be built on properly laid foundations.
When Engr. Michael Oluwagbemi assumed responsibility for the newly established initiative, there was no mature industry awaiting management. There was a national aspiration that needed to be translated into an operational framework. The challenges were considerable: no credible network of accredited conversion centres, low public confidence in CNG technology, unharmonised technical standards, inadequate domestic supply of conversion equipment, a shortage of qualified technicians, and investor caution rooted in the sector’s unproven commercial record. Oluwagbemi approached the assignment with the disposition of an engineer: methodical, systems-oriented and attentive to the interdependencies that would determine whether rapid expansion was eventually possible at all.
He recognised early that vehicle conversion alone could never sustain a national CNG programme. Every element of the value chain had to develop simultaneously: accreditation frameworks for conversion centres, structured training and certification for technicians, rigorously enforced safety protocols, reliable equipment supply arrangements and consistent policy signals to sustain investor confidence. Working across government agencies, regulators, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, standards bodies, transport unions, vehicle manufacturers and financial institutions, he developed the implementation architecture upon which everything that followed would depend.
His ability to engage stakeholders who initially viewed the programme with understandable scepticism proved equally important. Through sustained dialogue with investors, development partners and transport operators, he helped convert CNG from an abstract policy concept into a credible emerging commercial opportunity. By the close of his stewardship, the initiative possessed something more durable than statistics: it possessed institutional credibility. Clear technical standards had been established, strategic partnerships formed, private sector interest secured, and a demonstration made that Nigeria’s gas resources could underpin a viable transport energy industry. It is no exaggeration to describe Engr. Oluwagbemi as the principal architect of Nigeria’s contemporary CNG ecosystem
Barr. Ismaeel Ahmed: Scaling Vision into a National Industry
When President Tinubu appointed Barr. Ismaeel Buba Ahmed Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the initiative in June 2025, he inherited a programme that had successfully navigated its most difficult early phase. The institutional structures were in place, the policy direction well defined and stakeholder confidence growing. Yet a distinct and equally demanding challenge remained: whether the initiative could transition from a well-managed beginning into a truly national movement with self-sustaining momentum.
Ahmed’s leadership has been defined by his response to that challenge. His tenure has been characterised by an unambiguous emphasis on speed, scale and execution. Under his watch, Nigeria attained and has exceeded the 100,000-vehicle conversion milestone, accredited conversion centres expanded to more than 380 nationwide, and technician certification intensified to meet growing demand. Private sector participation deepened considerably: fuel marketers accelerated investment in dispensing infrastructure, manufacturers strengthened local partnerships, and financial institutions introduced conversion financing products accessible to fleet operators and individual vehicle owners alike. Engagement with state governments expanded, relationships with transport unions were deepened, and public communication on the long-term role of CNG in Nigeria’s energy future became more consistent and visible.
Perhaps the most telling indicator of what has been achieved under Ahmed’s sterling leadership is the nature of the growth itself. The initiative has progressively ceased to function as a government programme in the conventional sense and has begun operating as an industry, one generating its own commercial momentum as investment, competition and innovation reinforce one another. That transition, from policy-driven programme to self-sustaining industry, is rarely achieved and is not easily engineered. That it has occurred within the timeframe it has speaks well of the leadership that presided over it.
The expansion of Pi-CNG into Pi-CNG & EV during this period is a further mark of institutional confidence. Governments do not ordinarily enlarge the responsibilities of organisations that are struggling to fulfil existing mandates. The decision to do so here was an unmistakable endorsement of the initiative’s competence, credibility and capacity to lead Nigeria’s broader clean mobility agenda.
Keeping Up the Momentum
Across Africa, governments continue searching for practical ways to reduce transport costs, strengthen energy security and utilise domestic resources more effectively. Nigeria’s experience in CNG adoption has demonstrated that rapid transformation is possible when principled political leadership is complemented by technical competence and sustained administrative discipline. It also offers a counter-narrative to the long-standing criticism that the country conceives ambitious plans but struggles to implement them.
Of course, there is no denying that much work remains for the Pi-CNG & EV team. Infrastructure must continue to expand, safety standards must remain uncompromising, and public and investors’ confidence must be continually reinforced. None of that, however, diminishes what has already been accomplished. Within a remarkably short period, Nigeria has transformed compressed natural gas from a peripheral and largely theoretical energy option into a growing national industry.
For the achievement of positioning Nigeria as Africa’s fastest-growing CNG market within fewer than three years, President Bola Tinubu deserves huge credit for providing the political vision, Engr. Michael Oluwagbemi deserves recognition for laying the technical and institutional foundation, while Barr. Ismaeel Ahmed and the entire dedicated team of Pi-CNG & EV deserve not only congratulations but commendations for transforming that vision and foundation into one of Africa’s most successful energy transition narratives.
Olaoye Samuel writes from Lagos (07033179360)
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