INVESTIGATION: Black market diversions, conflict of interest threaten Tinubu’s CNG initiative

A PREMIUM TIMES investigation has exposed how black market trade and conflict of interest are compromising the Presidential Initiative on Compressed Natural Gas (PICNG), a Nigerian government programme aimed at reducing transportation costs following the removal of the petrol subsidy.

The weeks-long investigation involved on-the-ground reporting, deep dives into open-source data and exclusive conversations with insiders, including major players in Nigeria’s CNG industry.

After removing the petrol subsidy in May 2023, President Bola Tinubu inaugurated the PICNG to cushion the harsh effects of that action on Nigerians.

“President Tinubu has ordered the distribution of one million free CNG conversion kits for commercial vehicles across the country,” Michael Oluwagbemi, Project Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the PICNG, announced in a statement last year.

According to Mr Oluwagbemi, the government aimed to distribute 10,000 free conversion kits in the first phase of the initiative, targeting transport unions like the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Moove, UBER, and the Kaduna State Transport Authority (KSTA).

In response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) enquiry sent by our reporter, the PICNG said it distributed “a total of 15,310 conversion kits from June [2024] to date [May 2025].” It, however, refused to give details of the total cost, explaining that the procurement was done by the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.

Billions spent, but questions remain

PREMIUM TIMES found that the federal government has spent more than N45 billion through the Commercial Vehicle Conversion Incentive Programme (CV-CIP).

The CV-CIP, as explained on PICNG’s website, aims to provide free conversion of union-registered vehicles in 14 states where the programme has been activated. Further checks showed that there are 268 conversion centres across these states. The programme also targets ride-share vehicles such as UBER, whose “operators can benefit from a 50 per cent discount.”

However, data collected from Govspend, a public portal that archives the federal government’s daily spending, showed that N45,924,803,601.89 billion had been expended on the CV-CIP programme, including the purchase of more than 500 bi-fuel buses.

The money was paid through 19 transactions to 14 companies, including the Federal Ministry of Finance, which procures the conversion kits and bi-fuel buses for the PICNG.

Expected to be a game-changer, the PICNG’s CV-CIP programme is now threatened by conflict of interest and leakages, manifesting through black market trading on social media.

The programme is also shadowed by what insiders referred to as “inflated costs” and procurement opacity.

In July 2024, the PICNG boss, Mr Oluwagbemi, revealed that his agency was spending N1.2 million to convert a V4 vehicle. The PICNG refused to give further details when asked in the FOI enquiry we sent on 8 May, but one insider said, “They record that a conversion kit for a V4 vehicle costs N1,050,000.”

“There is an additional N150,000 recorded as labour cost for conversion centres,” the source continued. “That makes it the N1.2 million the CEO [Mr Oluwagbemi] quoted.”

However, our market analysis revealed that private entities like the Nigerian Independent Petroleum Company (NIPCO) charge N750,000 for the same service, raising questions about the costs of the government-subsidised kits. In addition, according to a price list of Redi Autos Nigeria Company, seen by our reporter, the price of a kit for a V4 vehicle ranges between N582,000 and N600,000.

However, a NIPCO official, who was not authorised to grant press interviews, told PREMIUM TIMES that the company can do conversions at such low rates “because we are benefiting from the government’s waiver on importations of machinery, equipment and spare parts.”

The conflict of interest

PREMIUM TIMES spoke with two insiders familiar with the PICNG’s activities. They told us that some top officials “fraudulently” allocate kits to conversion centres they run “through some people fronting for them.”

While our reporter could not verify their claims, his independent findings confirmed that at least one official owns a conversion centre that receives the government’s free kits.

David Idakwo, PICNG’s Northern Region Expansion Coordinator, is the official. Records from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) show that Mr Idakwo holds a major share in Hi-Grade Energies Ltd, a CNG conversion company registered just 10 days after President Tinubu approved the establishment of PICNG.

Hi-Grade operates its CNG workshop along the Zuba-Gwagwalada highway in Abuja.

Jethro Aloaye manages the company. At the company’s business premises, we met Mr Aloaye and a few others working on some CNG-converted vehicles.

Mr Aloaye, whose phone number was on the company’s business banner nailed to the wall of a storey building complex housing the company, declined to speak with our reporter.

“That’s not true,” Mr Idakwo wrote via WhatsApp when later confronted with our findings. “In fact, I have had [sic] that I own a lot more [including] Salma, Arus, Hi-Tech and more.”

But Mr Idakwo lied. Official filings obtained from the CAC’s Persons with Significant Control (PSC) portal show he has a 70 per cent share in the company, while his wife, Priscilla, owns the remaining 30 per cent.

A social network analysis conducted by this newspaper further linked the Idakwos to Mr Aloaye.

Mr Idakwo’s dual role—as a government regulator and private sector beneficiary—violates multiple Nigerian laws, including the Code of Conduct for Public Officers, the Public Procurement Act (2007), and the ICPC Act (2000).

Festus Ogun, a constitutional lawyer, shared his view about our findings.

“It is entirely wrongful,” Mr Ogun stated. “A public officer overseeing a government initiative cannot own or benefit (through proxies) from a private company operating under the government scheme,” he said.

The lawyer explained that section five of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act 2004 provides that public officers shall not put themselves in a position where their personal interests conflict with their duties and responsibilities.

“The law forbids public officers from holding shares or having any other interest in a company, partnership or other body directly or through another person, if holding or having that interest will result in a direct conflict with the officer’s official duties. The law aside, it is unethical,” Mr Ogun said.

He said that people like Mr Idakwo could be “tried by the Code of Conduct Tribunal.”

“The law empowers the Tribunal to direct vacation from office, disqualification from holding public office for a timeframe and forfeiture of assets acquired in abuse of office, as punishment for public officers found wanting,” he said.

According to Mr Ogun, violating these sections “puts the official at risk not less than five years imprisonment with no option of fine.”

“We hope that the law enforcement agencies like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) will investigate this further and save the well-intentioned initiative by the President,” one of the insiders who spoke to this newspaper said.

Inside the black market trade of government-subsidised CNG kits

For something the PICNG claimed costs more than a million naira, one Sam Ogidi offered to sell for N350,000. Mr Ogidi, who boasts of having a “government connection”, made the offer on a WhatsApp group where CNG kits are traded.

He further invited potential buyers to contact him. Like Mr Ogidi, others also made similar posts, with prices as low as N200,000.

Posing as a buyer, our reporter learned how people like Mr Ogidi manipulate the system and frustrate the PICNG programme.

Acknowledging that the kits cost more than a million in the real market, Mr Ogidi, during one of the multiple phone calls with our reporter, said he could provide up to three complete kits within a week, each for N300,000.

He then briefly explained how our reporter could get his car converted under the umbrella of bodies like Bolt and NURTW.

“I told you it is from the government’s angle,” Mr Ogidi reassured our reporter, as he shared a Heritage Cab-branded identity card belonging to a man he claimed was the driver of a House of Representatives member. “The government subsidised it for recognised transport organisations. Heritage is one of such.”

Mr Ogidi said our reporter needed the identity card for “record purposes.”

“You are not a taxi driver… it is just an umbrella under which your car will be done,” he added.

While Mr Ogidi claimed to have insider connections, others like Omuah Charles, a Bolt driver who received the CNG kit either for free or at a discounted rate, sell the kits they were meant to use.

Mr Charles was the first vendor PREMIUM TIMES contacted during this investigation. He offered to sell his kit for N350,000, but eventually sold it for N295,000. Our reporter purchased from him on 26 March and paid into his Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) account. He also promised to provide more kits if needed.

When asked how he got the kits, Mr Charles named one Captain Yusuf, describing him as a top official in the PICNG.

However, further findings show that Yusuf Oke is a consultant for the PICNG.

When contacted, Mr Oke denied the claim, saying people like Mr Charles selling the kits were “hiding under the umbrella of our previous transactions where they purchased kits from me.”

Mr Oke explained that the kits he sells are imported from China. When we showed him Mr Charles’s picture, he said he might have met him before, “but I can’t remember.”

Private businesses suffer

While this fraud flourishes, private businesses legally selling CNG kits and converting vehicles suffer.

Speaking on an Arise Television interview programme, Sina Kawonise, a major importer of CNG kits, warned that the proliferation of conversion centres and the diversion of kits to the black market would strain private CNG businesses and “will affect the adoption of CNG.”

Mr Kawonise, a newspaper publisher, lamented that the internal fraud in the PICNG will frustrate the government’s efforts to alleviate Nigerians’ hardships from removing the fuel subsidy.

When told of this newspaper’s findings after his television appearance, he urged the federal government to investigate them, sanitise the industry, and help Nigerians. For the government to fully achieve its aim with CNG, Mr Kawonise advised that more priority should be given to infrastructure.

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“Some drivers are de-kitting because they find it difficult to refuel their cylinders most times,” he said, advising the government to build more refilling stations, instead of distributing free kits.”

Messrs Goriola and Oke shared similar views. The latter said the “PICNG incentive has disrupted our smooth selling.” However, he described the programme as a good initiative.

“The black market thing is obvious,” Mr Goriola of C & L Smart Energy Solutions said. “We know where they are coming from. The PICNG keeps pouring the kits into the black market.”

He said the anti-corruption agencies can step in to save the initiative. “The EFCC and the SSS should thoroughly investigate the matter,” he urged.