A list of more than 300 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) conversion centres has disappeared from the website of the Presidential Initiative on Compressed Natural Gas (PICNG), a Nigerian government programme aimed at reducing transportation costs following the removal of the petrol subsidy.
Our reporter noted that the list disappeared two days after we published an investigation exposing how black market trade and conflict of interest threatened the initiative. A week later, the list remains missing from the website.
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The initiative, which has gulped more than N45 billion through the Commercial Vehicle Conversion Incentive Programme (CV-CIP), is also compromised by what insiders described as inflated costs and procurement opacity.
Our investigation detailed how a top official, David Idakwo, breached extant laws, holding a major share in a company that benefits from government-subsidised CNG kits meant for commercial and ride-share drivers.
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Mr Idakwo, the PICNG’s Northern Region Expansion Coordinator, is the official. Although our sources said more officials are involved in the shady deal, we could not find evidence to substantiate their claims.
According to our findings, his company, Hi-Grade Energies Ltd, was registered just 10 days after President Tinubu approved the establishment of PICNG.
The official’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).
The missing list
The list, previously accessible to Nigerians as a sign of the government’s transparency and progress, contained the names and locations of conversion centres approved under the PICNG rollout plan.
While the list remains inaccessible on the PICNG website, PREMIUM TIMES pulled it from the Wayback Machine, a tool that helps restore missing web pages.
According to our analysis, the PICNG website experienced about 76 changes between 4 January 2024 and 21 June 2025. Similarly, the conversion centres section was upgraded at least 13 times between 14 August 2024 and 15 May 2025.
Within this period, the list of conversion centres grew from 187 to 317.
READ ALSO: INVESTIGATION: Black market diversions, conflict of interest threaten Tinubu’s CNG initiative
Shortly after our investigation into leakages manifesting through black-market diversions and insider dealings, the removal raises concerns about transparency and deliberate efforts to conceal critical information from the public.
With the list now offline, there are concerns that the agency is attempting to downplay public scrutiny. Since our investigation, the agency has remained silent. Insider sources said no action has been taken against Mr Idakwo.
“We are calling for the restoration of the data and an independent audit of the listed conversion centres,” one insider said, noting “some of the conversion centres may exist only on paper, apart from the ones controlled by top officials.”
When contacted through its customer care line, available on its website, the PICNG said the website was down and would be restored soon.
“There is a particular section for conversion centres,” a customer care agent who simply identified as Oluwaseun said when countered that the website was not down as he claimed.
Olayinka Daniel, a web developer and digital team lead at Dataphyte, shared his expertise about such a scenario.
“They can’t take it down to update it, making sure that list or section is not available to the public,” Mr Daniel said.
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