The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said the five CNG buses given to it as part of the Federal Government’s efforts to address the transportation challenges for workers are not enough.   
NLC Head of Information, Benson Upah, said the NLC which took delivery of five 14-seater buses by the Federal Government, while commending the gesture, urged the government to speedily get more CNG buses for workers.
  
He said that each of the three arterial routes into the city of Abuja requires about 15 such buses to tackle transportation challenges.
  
He said the buses which were part of the agreement between the Federal Government and organised labour last year, however, faulted that they were not as high-capacity buses as promised.
  
“We agreed with this government that they were going to provide 55,000 free CNG combustion kits to Nigerians. That was part of our agreement. They have not supplied one. We have not seen one. It was part of the agreement, but they brought it in, and they are selling it all over the place.
  
“We were told that there would be a few high-capacity buses. Certainly, these are not enough even to put on one route here in Abuja, let alone the parts of the federation. I would urge the government to speedily get more CNG buses on the roads. For each arterial route, we need nothing less than 15 CNG buses but then, we nonetheless take note of the gesture,” he said.
  
Similarly, Deputy President of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Dr Tommy Okon, said the government has given vehicles but should go a step further to also look at the management of the buses to make them last longer.
  
He recalled what happened during the military era when buses were mismanaged due to a lack of finances to manage them.
  
“These are the issues. A lot of people are not excited about giving buses to be managed, because it happened even in the military era. The outcome of it is always very painful because all the buses must also have a way to be parked. If you don’t have a way to park, you are going to rent a space to park it, and those spaces are not going to be free of charge.

“So, for us, we believe that yes, you have given us, we appreciate it, but it should go a step further to also look at the management of those buses in order not to be a waste venture,” he said.

The TUC boss also demanded that as the government has come up with a policy of CNG conversion, the conversion should be made free so that vehicles could easily convert to gas-powered.

He said the move would give way to ensure that the transition from gas to energy is effective and the dependence on petrol would be a thing of the past.