The Nigerian government said there was no subsidy, the market forces were playing

The federal government has rejected the hidden subsidy claim to compressed natural gas (CNG), insisting that the price setting in the auto-cng market is fully controlled by private operators.

The clarification came through a statement issued on Wednesday by the President of Natural Gas Compression (PCNGI) after public concern about the increase in the price of this new pump at several charging stations.

According to PCNI, adjustments were introduced by private players and did not reflect any government policy. “The recent adjustment in the price of the CNG pump was carried out by Nipco Gas, the private sector operator in the Auto-CNG market. Nipco is one of several investors in this sector and, like other operators, maintaining policies to set prices in line with business and commercial reality,” the statement said.

This initiative explains that it does not regulate the price, emphasizing that the responsibility lies in the Midstream Nigeria and the downstream oil regulatory authority (NMDPRA).

“Since April 2024, authority has maintained an incentive-based price setting for auto-CNG that remains unchanged. This framework ensures that CNG will always be valued with discounts for PM and Diesel. This also empowering NMDPRA to act on the installation of prices that violate this framework.

“Since the launch of the domestic gas market in June 2025, PCNI has been working with the Nigerian gas aggregation company (GACN) and NMDPRA to ensure stable supply and long -term price stability.”

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PCNI further underlined that the federal government did not have the intention to return to the practice of opaque subsidies. “The era of opaque subsidies that paralyzed the PMS sector/ago will not be replicated in the CNG market. Conversely, the CNG sector is being developed as a transparent market driven by investments where healthy competition will reduce costs from time to time.”

It also highlighted the progress made under the government of the President of Bola Tinubu in attracting the main private capital to the gas sector.

“More than $ 1 billion in investment has been attracted to the CNG sector in the last 18 months under the administration of the President of Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Protecting this investment requires consistency, transparency, and approaches driven by the market.”