Tinubu Is Telling Governors To Copy Kaduna's Free Bus Scheme
Abuja · Tuesday 22 September 2026
President Tinubu has urged state governors to emulate Kaduna's Governor Uba Sani on free compressed natural gas mass transit, holding up the scheme as a model for the rest of the country.
Why CNG is the administration's favourite answer
Because it addresses the most painful consequence of its own biggest decision. Removing the petrol subsidy in 2023 pushed transport costs up immediately and everywhere, and gas is the only fuel Nigeria has in quantity that is cheaper than petrol and already under the ground. Moving buses onto it is the closest thing to a direct answer.
| What CNG conversion needs | Where Nigeria is |
|---|---|
| Refuelling stations in every city | Thin outside Lagos and Abuja |
| Conversion kits and trained fitters | Expanding, slowly |
| Vehicles built or converted for it | The expensive part |
| Somebody to pay the fares in the meantime | State governments |
Kaduna is doing the fourth row, which is the only one a governor can do quickly.
The timing nobody will state plainly
Four months before a general election, the president is asking governors to put free buses on the road. Everything in that sentence is true and none of it is a scandal.
Uba Sani is also on the ballot in Kaduna, and the defence minister spent last weekend mobilising the state for both him and the president. Free transport is genuinely useful to people who need it, and it is being deployed in the places and at the times where it is most politically valuable. Voters can hold both facts at once.
The measurable test
Whether the buses are still free in March. That is checkable, it costs nothing to check, and it is the only way to tell a transport policy from a campaign.
Reporting: Vanguard, Tribune Online and Daily Post Nigeria.
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