By Olugbenga Salami

President Bola Tinubu has commissioned a state-of-the-art Compressed Natural Gas Daughter Booster Station in Jahi, Abuja, in a fresh push to reduce Nigeria’s dependence on costly petroleum products and unlock the value of its gas reserves.

Tinubu, who was by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Gas, Ekperikpe Ekpo, described the facility as a centrepiece of the administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

He said the agenda places domestic gas utilisation at the heart of Nigeria’s industrial and economic future.

Nigeria holds about 215 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves. Yet for decades, much of the resource has been exported while Nigerians grapple with expensive and polluting fossil fuels.

The Tinubu administration is now moving to reverse that trend. The Jahi commissioning is one of four gas infrastructure projects unveiled simultaneously nationwide.

Similar facilities were launched by Ibile Oil and Gas and Portland Energy in Lagos and Owerri respectively.

“This facility marks another important milestone in our collective drive to deepen gas utilisation, expand access to cleaner energy solutions, and strengthen Nigeria’s gas value chain,” Ekpo declared at the event.

At the forefront of the transformation is Rolling Energy Limited, the private firm behind the Jahi station which developed the project in partnership with the Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund, MDGIF.

Chairman of Rolling Energy, Mubarak Umar Dambata, said the company’s footprint extends beyond Abuja.

He disclosed that Rolling Energy is rolling out CNG mother stations, daughter stations and Liquefied Natural Gas facilities in Kaduna, Kano and Borno states.

The firm has also partnered with the Presidential Initiative on CNG and Electric Vehicles to convert over 8,000 vehicles to gas-powered systems.

The initiative is designed to translate policy into direct savings for commuters, tricycle operators and businesses.

The Jahi facility has a sales capacity of 1,000 Standard Cubic Metres, SCM, per hour.

It features two CNG tube skids with a combined storage capacity of 17,000 SCM.

The station also houses a Mass Conversion Centre that can convert up to 20 vehicles and 25 tricycles daily.

Since commercial operations began, it has been serving 350–400 vehicles per day.

Projected capacity is to serve more than 1,000 CNG vehicles and 100 trucks daily across the FCT and surrounding regions.

Chairman of the Presidential Initiative on CNG and Electric Vehicles, Ismahil Ahmed, said the removal of fuel subsidies created urgency for alternative energy.

“CNG offers a cleaner and more economically viable option,” Ahmed argued. He urged investors to move quickly into a market where demand for gas infrastructure is rising.

Presidential Adviser Sunday Dare said the administration has commissioned 25 projects nationwide to mark its third anniversary, with clean energy and gas infrastructure featuring prominently.

With regulatory backing from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority and financial support from MDGIF, officials say the foundation for a CNG-powered Nigeria is now in place.

For truck drivers, tricycle operators and factory owners, the promise is lower costs, cleaner air and greater energy reliability.

We congratulate the presidential candidates of all the political parties for the 2027 presidential election. Practically all the presidential candidates in their acceptance speeches highlighted and almost agreed on the key areas and sectors that require particular attention to develop, secure, and unite Nigerians notwithstanding our ethnic, religious and sectional diversities.
The 2027 general elections promise to witness robust and vibrant electioneering campaigns. The presidential election promises to be an epic encounter.
We urge the politicians and their supporters to remain focused on issues and eschew the resort to acerbic and inflammatory rhetoric.
The Independent National Electoral Commission has the onerous tasks to deliver to Nigerians credible, transparent, free, and fair elections. Nigerians expect nothing less. The world is watching. The security agencies must not allow themselves to be compromised. Nigeria currently has several flash points, and the citizens are restive at this time as a result of many existential challenges. Politicians, INEC, and security agencies must not exacerbate an already incendiary and potentially explosive polity by their actions and utterances.
The Igbo Agenda Dialogue, IAD, a non-partisan socio-political and prodemocracy organization, has already embarked on a nationwide advocacy to urge our people who are eligible to take advantage of the ongoing last phase of the continuous voters registration exercise by INEC to register and to come out enmass in January and February 2027 to vote massively for candidates and political parties of their choice. We urge similar organizations to join in this patriotic effort.
Finally, we wish to caution that any attempt to manipulate the electoral process or to shortchange the electorate during and after the elections may result in an uncontrollable anarchy that may threaten the very foundation of our country.

Chief Chekwas Okorie
Convener/ National Chairman

Jonathan Elendu
Executive Secretary
Igbo Agenda Dialogue, IAD.

By David Owei,Bayelsa

The Bayelsa State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) paid condolence visits to two it’s members Mrs. Elmelda Abidde and Mr. Ikiemoye Iniamagha, over the deaths of her husband and his father respectively.

Led by State Chairman, Comrade Tonye Yemoleigha, the delegation first visited Mrs. Abidde at her Mike Okpokpo Street residence in Yenagoa.

Yemoleigha urged the family to “cry if you must, but don’t cry too much,” while assuring them of the Union’s support. He described the deceased as a man who fulfilled his purpose on earth and prayed for the repose of his soul.

Elder Elton Abidde who responded on behalf of the family, thanked the NUJ for identifying with the family and used the opportunity to announce that the burial date has been scheduled for June 27, 2026.

The delegation later visited Mr. Ikiemoye Iniamagha at his Imgbi Road residence. Yemoleigha encouraged him to take heart, hold onto his father’s intangible legacies, and noted it was a blessing that the children are burying their father.

Mr. Iniamagha, who is also Bayelsa State Co -ordinator of the International Institute of Journalism (IIJ), thanked the Union. He disclosed that his father took ill a month ago, was hospitalised, and passed away days later.

The NUJ chairman pledged the Council’s support for both families during the burial arrangements.