North East Development Commission says it is preparing to distribute 10,330 electric vehicles, including buses, taxis and tricycles, across the six states of the North-East region.
Yobe State NEDC Coordinator, Prof Ali Ibrahim Abba, disclosed this during a stakeholder engagement and community sensitisation meeting held in Damaturu, Yobe State.
Abba said the engagement was organised ahead of the proposed take-off of the programme by President Bola Tinubu.
He said the initiative is part of efforts to implement the Federal Government’s green mobility agenda and provide an alternative means of transportation amid rising petrol prices.
Abba said NEDC was engaging relevant stakeholders in the transport sector to obtain their views and recommendations on how best to implement the programme across the region.
“Most of NEDC’s interventions are people- and community-driven. Therefore, whenever the commission wants to implement any project or programme, we sit down with stakeholders, listen to them and get their feedback,” he said.
The Yobe coordinator explained that the engagement would enable the commission to understand stakeholders’ concerns, identify opportunities and agree on appropriate measures for implementing the electric vehicle programme.
He listed federal and state government agencies, transport unions, vehicle operators, drivers, traditional rulers and security agencies among the stakeholders involved in the consultation.
Abba specifically mentioned the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), Keke NAPEP operators and other transport associations.
He also said traditional rulers, including the emirs of Fika, Damaturu and Bade, were represented at the engagement.
The NEDC Yobe coordinator stressed that drivers were equally important to the consultation because they would be directly involved in operating the vehicles.
On the potential economic benefits, Abba said electric vehicles would significantly reduce transportation costs because charging them was cheaper than purchasing petrol.
He explained that while motorists could spend about N80,000 on petrol, an electric vehicle could be charged for less than N10,000, potentially reducing the operating expenses of transport operators.
He added that the vehicles would also help reduce environmental pollution associated with fossil fuels and improve the efficiency of transportation and logistics operations.
According to him, the initiative would provide an alternative to conventional petrol-powered transportation and help address the impact of rising fuel prices following the removal of the petrol subsidy.
Abba, however, acknowledged that charging infrastructure was essential for the successful implementation of the programme.
“You cannot have electric vehicles without charging stations. As I speak with you, proposals and action are currently ongoing for electric vehicle charging stations to be constructed in Yobe State. This is also for all the six states in the North-East,” he said.
On the number of vehicles to be allocated to Yobe State and the distribution arrangements, Abba said the programme was still at the pilot stage.
He explained that the commission’s management and board were consulting with the governors of the six North-East states on the modalities for distributing the vehicles.
He said the pilot programme would enable the commission to assess how the initiative would operate before its wider implementation.
Abba, however, declined to give details of the allocation to individual states or the distribution arrangements, saying he did not want to pre-empt decisions being discussed by the commission’s management and the governors.
