The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has called on the Federal Government to look beyond its Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) transportation initiative and implement concrete measures to drastically reduce the price of petrol and other critical energy inputs driving high transportation and production costs nationwide.
The call was contained in an official statement issued in Abuja on Sunday, September 20, 2026, by HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko.
The human rights group acknowledged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s recent directive to state governors, mandating them to accelerate the rollout of CNG and electric-powered public transport to lower fares starting October 1, as a step toward reducing transit costs for commuters. However, HURIWA stressed that CNG vehicles alone cannot resolve the broader cost-of-living crisis squeezing Nigerian households and businesses.
HURIWA pointed out that premium motor spirit (PMS/petrol) impacts virtually all sectors of the economy, including manufacturing, agricultural logistics, food distribution, construction, and micro-enterprises.
While a CNG bus may lower fares on specific commuter routes, it does not reduce the cost of powering equipment, operating small businesses, or transporting agricultural produce to urban markets.
The association urged the Federal Government to pursue fiscal, regulatory, and market-stabilization mechanisms to bring petrol prices back down toward the ₦180 per litre mark seen in 2021, arguing that unmanaged fuel costs continue to erode the purchasing power of everyday citizens.
HURIWA demanded total transparency in the pricing template of refined petrol, demanding clear disclosures regarding crude supply costs, refining margins, importation fees, freight tariffs, and taxes contributing to current pump prices.
The group emphasised that individual state interventions and localised bus programs cannot replace a coherent, nationwide energy policy focused on stabilizing fuel prices across the board.
HURIWA concluded by urging President Tinubu to urgently convene a stakeholder dialogue featuring economic managers, state governors, organised labor, manufacturing bodies, civil society groups, and transport operators to formulate a comprehensive energy price-stabilisation framework.
”CNG is part of the solution, but CNG cannot become an excuse for government to avoid confronting the wider fuel-price crisis,” Onwubiko stated, warning that unmitigated energy costs threaten to trigger factory closures, increase unemployment, and deepen poverty across Nigeria.
