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Northeast To See Electric Vehicles Deployment As Tinubu Approves New Framework
Northeast To See Electric Vehicles Deployment As Tinubu Approves New Framework. President Bola Tinubu has approved the deployment of e-vehicles in Nigeria’s Northeastern states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba, and Yobe.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶
Tinubu gave the approval on Wednesday at the State House, Abuja, when he received the leadership of the Northeast Development Commission NEDC led by its CEO/Managing Director, Mohammed Alkali.
The move is to ease mobility and support the reduction of transportation fares across the States, Alkali told State House Correspondents.
It follows an earlier directive by the President in May 2024 mandating all government ministries, departments and agencies to procure only CNG-powered vehicles.
However, Alkali said after a “thorough analysis” the NEDC discovered that electric vehicles hold more comparative advantage for the region over CNG-powered vehicles.
He explained in detail, “If you recall, there was a directive from the President that MDAs should use CNG or electric vehicles. So, we at the Northeast Development Commission did a thorough analysis of our region, because we cover six states, and look at the comparative advantage between CNG and e-vehicles.
“After our thorough analysis, we concluded that for the North East region, yes, the CNG could work, but e-vehicles can work better for many reasons.
“We sought and got the approval of the president for us to go ahead and come up with the framework of how we are going to deploy this e-mobility in the northeast and what kind of e-mobility. Mr. President graciously approved, and today we came to present to him the kind of E-vehicles we are going to introduce in the Northeast.”
Alkali said the vehicles comprise buses, sedan taxis, and tricycles.
“One is the e-buses which can carry about 40 passengers and that is for intrastate, not interstate. Also we brought some samples of e-taxis which normally carry three people passengers as well as the driver, and we also brought in a highly modified tricycle.
“Most of the tricycles we have in the North East or elsewhere only carry three people plus the driver four. But in our case, we have modified it to carry eight people plus the driver, and it’s fully covered and very convenient.
“Knowing the kind of weight and people we are going to carry, we’ve asked our engineers to modify the physical structure of the tricycle. When you look at it, you can see the tyres and frames are bigger,” he noted.
Alkali also hinted that the Commission plans to create modular solar power units to serve as a backup power source for the e-vehicles.
He added that the NEDC has considered local content that the parts can be fabricated locally.
“Our plan at the end of the day is to create modular solar power units across the state that can be used to power this percentage of e-vehicles. Mr. President approved that we should go ahead and deploy the e-mobility.
“We’re also considering establishing a 5KVA or 10KVA solar-powered grid, stand-alone so that this can be backup for the inadequacy of the power supply.
“We may have one or two challenges, but we already made a plan to see that besides the usual generating plant, we are also going to back up with some stand-alone solar power grid to power this station we are going to build. And in doing that, we also consider local content that the body can be fabricated locally in the North East or somewhere else in the region,” he added.
The MD further revealed that the Commission will engage stakeholders, especially the road transport workers, to integrate their concerns and advice before the final stage of the project.
“We will engage stakeholders, especially road transport workers to integrate their concerns and advice,” Alkali added.
Wednesday’s meeting comes days after the Federal Government on Sunday handed over 64 100-capacity Compressed Natural Gas-powered buses to the Organised Labour unions and the National Association of Nigerian Students at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.
The buses, which are part of the Presidential CNG initiative’s pilot programme, were distributed across the states and campuses in what the Information Minister, Mohammed Idris, called a “necessary first step.”
Last October, CNG vehicles formed part of tough back-and-forth negotiations between the FG and the organised labour unions, which had threatened to begin a nationwide strike.
At the time, the government agreed to vote N100bn to provide high-capacity CNG buses for mass transit in Nigeria, then Labour Minister, Simon Lalong, revealed.
Lalong said plans were underway for an initial 55,000 CNG conversion kits to kick start an autogas conversion programme, while work is ongoing on state-of-the-art CNG stations nationwide.
“The rollout aims to commence by November with pilots across 10 campuses nationwide,” he noted.
However, the programme suffered delays as Nigerians continued to stagger under the mounting cost of transportation and soaring petrol pump prices. However, the FG says the vehicles are unavailable for direct purchase and are only being manufactured upon order.
In April 2024, the Presidency announced it would release about 2,700 CNG-powered buses and tricycles before the end of 2024.
This includes 600 buses, 2,500 tricycles, 100 conversion workshops, and 60 refuelling sites across 18 states.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has reaffirmed its defence of its Chairman, Joash Amupitan, stating that a forensic investigation has established that social media posts attributed to him were fabricated.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶
In a statement issued on Monday by his Chief Press Secretary, Adedayo Oketola, the commission maintained that Amupitan does not own or operate any social media account, despite the circulation of alleged posts linked to him.
According to INEC, both internal checks and independent forensic analysis confirmed that the Chairman has no presence on X (formerly Twitter) or any other social media platform.
The statement explained that the findings of the investigation revealed multiple inconsistencies, including timestamp irregularities, which showed that a viral post attributed to Amupitan was published before the original message it was supposedly responding to—an occurrence described as technically impossible.
INEC also dismissed claims attempting to link the account to the Chairman through email addresses, phone numbers, or financial records, noting that verification processes on the platform failed to establish any connection.
The commission further clarified that the appearance of a phone number in records such as BVN or financial platforms does not serve as proof of ownership of any social media account.
It described the situation as a coordinated disinformation effort, revealing that several fake accounts across different platforms were created using the Chairman’s identity.
INEC added that the account at the centre of the controversy was later renamed, made private, and labelled as a parody account shortly after the issue gained public attention.
The commission stated that the findings have been forwarded to relevant security agencies for further investigation and urged members of the public to avoid sharing or engaging with the disputed content.
The current exchange rate between the US Dollar and the Nigerian Naira at the black market, commonly referred to as the parallel market (Aboki FX), has been outlined for April 20, 2026.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶
Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, has disclosed details of a private discussion he had with the late former President Muhammadu Buhari regarding political differences involving President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television, Lawal said the conversation took place shortly before Buhari’s death, during which the former president cautioned him about potential political disagreements that could arise with Tinubu.
According to Lawal, Buhari advised that any such disagreements should be handled with restraint and remain focused on governance and national issues rather than becoming personal.
He explained that the late president stressed the importance of avoiding personal attacks, urging that political differences should be expressed in a respectful manner centered on public interest.
Lawal said he accepted the advice and has since made a conscious effort to ensure that his public comments about Tinubu are limited to political matters without crossing into personal territory.
He added that Buhari had warned him that it was possible to have political clashes with someone considered a friend, but emphasized that such situations should not be allowed to become personal.
Recalling the exchange, Lawal quoted Buhari as advising him to keep any political disagreements strictly professional and not turn them into personal conflicts.
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