The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has accused President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration of moving too late to address the rising cost of transportation through the expansion of compressed natural gas (CNG)-powered transport.
The opposition party described the Federal Government’s latest push to expand CNG transportation as evidence that the administration had become increasingly concerned about the political consequences of rising transport costs ahead of the 2027 general elections.
ADC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, made the criticism while reacting to an emergency meeting between President Tinubu and state governors on Friday.
According to Abdullahi, the administration had allowed Nigerians to endure the effects of higher transportation costs for years before suddenly turning its attention to measures designed to reduce fares.
He described the move as a political response rather than a comprehensive solution to the economic difficulties facing Nigerians.
The ADC spokesman also linked the development to the opposition party’s proposals on targeted production subsidies, arguing that the government was responding to pressure generated by competing political and economic ideas.
The opposition party’s position comes as the Federal Government intensifies efforts to expand CNG-powered transportation as part of its broader strategy to reduce the impact of high petrol prices and transportation costs.
The government has increasingly promoted CNG as an alternative fuel source following the removal of petrol subsidy, which significantly changed transportation and energy costs across the country.
However, the ADC maintains that the government’s latest intervention should have been implemented much earlier.
Abdullahi’s remarks were political criticism of the administration’s timing and intentions; they do not establish that the CNG expansion programme was introduced solely for electoral reasons.