The slow uptake is being driven by a combination of factors, including weak consumer demand, the high cost of converting petrol-powered cars, and concerns over safety. While CNG is gradually becoming more common among commercial buses and tricycles, many private car owners and automobile dealers remain hesitant to embrace the switch.
The continued rise in the cost of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), commonly known as petrol, has made CNG an increasingly attractive option for commercial transport operators. However, for private vehicle users, the financial and practical challenges involved in conversion appear to be outweighing the potential savings from using the alternative fuel.
A market survey found that billions of naira were invested by automobile dealers in vehicle imports in 2025, with petrol-powered vehicles accounting for the overwhelming majority of the cars brought into the country.
Among the dealers interviewed, only one reported importing a private vehicle fitted with a dual CNG-and-petrol engine during the year.
The experience has left some dealers questioning whether there is sufficient consumer demand to justify putting their capital into CNG-powered cars.
‘No Demand For CNG-Powered Cars’
For Femi Oladipupo, manager of LongVille Auto and an automobile dealer with 26 years of experience, an attempt to test the market for CNG-powered vehicles ended in disappointment.
Oladipupo said the company imported a Toyota Corolla fitted with both CNG and petrol systems in 2025, hoping to take advantage of the growing government campaign around alternative fuel.
Instead, the vehicle remained unsold for about a year.
“We sold like 15 petrol cars, and that single one (CNG car) was on the ground,” Oladipupo said.
He said the experience was enough to discourage him from investing further in CNG-powered vehicles for sale.
“There was a vehicle we brought in (2025). A Toyota Corolla. It was CNG and petrol together. That car was here for over a year,” he said.
With the vehicle failing to attract buyers, Oladipupo eventually started using it himself.
His experience reflects a wider challenge facing the government's CNG transition strategy: while fuel costs have created strong incentives to explore cheaper alternatives, consumers do not appear ready to abandon the familiarity of petrol-powered private cars.
Gbenga Ashaolu, founder of God’s Help Autos International Limited, said his company deliberately concentrated its more than N1 billion investment in vehicle importation last year on petrol-powered cars because that is what customers currently demand.
“I don’t sell CNG vehicles,” he said.
Ashaolu said automobile dealers could not afford to purchase vehicles based solely on government policy without evidence that consumers were willing to buy them.
“We’ve been hearing about it (CNG), but nobody has asked, and I can’t buy what people are not interested in.”
Morenike Adefehinti, manager of Atlantic Biscoe, said the lack of demand was even more pronounced in her company’s experience.
She said the reporter conducting the market survey was the first person to ask about CNG-powered vehicles at the car lot.
“You are the first person to approach me for a CNG car, and you are not even approaching me because you want to buy; it is because you are doing your findings. Do you get? This year, nobody has entered this car lot for a CNG car, so tell me why we should order a CNG car,” she said.
For Adefehinti, the reluctance goes beyond simple demand. Dealers also have to consider how quickly a vehicle will sell once it arrives in the country.
She pointed to an older Toyota Sequoia that had remained in her lot for several years as an example of the way Nigerian buyers assess used vehicles.
“I have a Sequoia there. It’s 05, and it has been there for like five to six years. Somebody came to ask for the price, and I told the person, and he said, ‘Let me see the paper.’ He saw the paper, and he said, ‘This car came in like five years ago; una go don dey use am for Nigeria.’”
“Do you see the mentality? I can also think like that. And he’s not wrong to think like that.”
Adefehinti said the attitude creates an additional risk for dealers considering CNG vehicles.
She explained that a petrol-powered car could remain in a dealer's lot for years and, after basic servicing, still be put into use when eventually sold.
“But gas, do we know what it has to go through, because we’ve not operated it before? We don’t know maybe if it’s sitting in one position for like six months, will it stand up, just like the fuel one will stand up? So when we look at that, do you want to go through that stress?” she asked.
Atlantic Biscoe, which sources vehicles such as Toyota Tundra and Tacoma models from auctions, does not currently see enough demand to justify changing its sourcing strategy.
Adefehinti said the company would consider bringing in CNG vehicles if customers began requesting them in meaningful numbers.
“Let three people come and say, ‘We are looking for a CNG car.’ Then we can think, ‘Okay, let’s use one as a test, and maybe we can start bringing them’, but nobody has asked,” she said.
Higher Purchase Price A Deterrent
Even where consumers may be attracted by the prospect of cheaper fuel, the initial cost of a CNG-powered vehicle can discourage them from making the switch.
Oladipupo said the dual-fuel vehicle imported by his company was more expensive than comparable petrol-powered cars.
“Because of the fuel efficiency, that made the price higher than the normal petrol (car). Now, people like a situation whereby they will just say, ‘Okay, this one is N12 million, this one is N10 million or N10.5 million. So why wouldn’t I go for the one of N10 million or N10.5 million?’”
For many Nigerian consumers already dealing with rising vehicle prices, the immediate purchase cost can outweigh the potential long-term savings from using a cheaper fuel.
Adefehinti said the cost of converting conventional petrol cars to CNG adds another layer of expense.
She also expressed reservations about conversion because of the possibility of errors during the process.
“Apart from the auction, when we bring it here, changing it to CNG is a lot of processes that even demand more money. Because we are still bringing in (petrol cars) and we are selling, and people are still complaining (about the price),” she said.
“Now, imagine we change it to CNG; we have to add the money we use in converting it. It (price) goes higher again. And I don’t think I ever will, even if I’m the owner of this car lot, think of changing any car I bring here to CNG.”
According to Adefehinti, the economics of conversion may have made more sense when vehicle prices were considerably lower.
“It is not that we do not want to change it to CNG. When Camry or Corolla was still N1.5 million, if they changed it, they would sell it — you can’t use N500,000 to do everything (conversion) – for N2 million or N2.1 million.”
“But now that even the smallest Corolla is going for N9 million to N11 million, and you want to convert it to CNG, you have to add your money, and you have to add your profit. Do you think people will not complain? So, on our own part? We do not see the reason to change a fuel (petrol) car to CNG because it’s a lot of trouble,” she added.
Fear, Familiarity And Consumer Perception
Beyond price, dealers identified unfamiliarity with CNG as another major obstacle.
Oladipupo said consumers were accustomed to petrol-powered vehicles and were still trying to understand the implications of switching to CNG.
“It will take a long time to change people’s perspective on what they are used to doing,” he said.
He said dealers also faced a financial dilemma because their capital could remain tied up if they imported vehicles for which there was little demand.
“We as dealers sell to end users; now, we are investing our capital at first. We bring in cars, and this is the vehicle Nigerians are very aware of. So, suddenly, you want to invest your capital — the one you are investing in petrol cars — you want to shift it to another system entirely.”
“It’s like you don’t really know what will come out of it, and for you now to put in your capital there, you know, as a businessman, you need to have some thinking about it; wouldn’t this tie down my capital?”
“That’s why we don’t want a situation whereby we just invest our capital in CNG and, at the end of the day, have no patronage. The thing would just be there; nobody would come to buy, and the money would run out. That’s just the reason why we don’t invest in CNG. We believe in the traditional way of doing business.”
Oladipupo, however, said his company could reconsider its position once CNG became more familiar to Nigerians.
He also identified concerns about gas explosions as another factor affecting consumer confidence.
“Most Nigerians are still having fear about the gas stuff because of the danger (explosion). They say, ‘Well, let’s just stay with petrol’.”
“That is what is dragging down the CNG business,” he added.
Adefehinti similarly attributed the reluctance partly to stories about negative experiences.
She said Nigerians could quickly reject a technology after hearing about a bad experience involving it.
“Maybe for the first time you’re hearing an experience about CNG, you are hearing the worst of it. It is just Nigerian mentality: once I hear your experience, I won’t go there,” she said.
'Class Problem’ May Also Be At Play
For Paul Oduyomi, founder of Pobil Autos, consumer perception could extend beyond concerns about safety and price.
He said some Nigerians could associate CNG with financial hardship because of its cheaper running cost, making some consumers reluctant to embrace it for social reasons.
“People will say I don’t have money; that’s why I’m using CNG; class problem with Nigeria; we can have that too. ‘Ah, it’s CNG you are using, I’m using petrol. How much do they sell petrol that you cannot afford it, and you are turning your cars (or) buying CNG cars?’”
“So, it can also discourage people,” Oduyomi said.
The comments point to a broader challenge for the CNG transition: reducing the cost of motoring may not automatically translate into consumer acceptance if the technology is associated with lower social status or economic hardship.
Dealers Want More Government Awareness
Some automobile dealers said the government would have to do more to convince both consumers and vehicle sellers that CNG is a practical option for private transportation.
Qudus Adeshina, marketing officer of DM 101, said his company also spent more than N1 billion on vehicle imports last year but continued to focus on petrol-powered cars because that is the technology consumers understand best.
“What I notice is that, because we know more about petrol cars, that’s why we are pushing it. Most people believe that it’s only the danfos (commercial buses) that need CNG,” he said.
Ashaolu agreed that awareness remained a major problem.
He said increased consumer demand would ultimately encourage dealers to put their money behind CNG vehicles.
“By the time people begin to demand CNG, it’s easier for us to also put our investment in it. But for now, the awareness is really low.”
For Adefehinti, however, awareness alone may not be enough. She said government intervention that creates a guaranteed market could persuade dealers to take the initial risk.
Her position reflects the central dilemma confronting Nigeria's CNG automobile market: dealers are reluctant to stock vehicles because consumers are not asking for them, while consumers may be reluctant to buy them because dealers do not stock them.
Until that cycle is broken through stronger awareness, competitive pricing, reliable conversion infrastructure and greater consumer confidence, petrol-powered cars are likely to remain dominant in Nigeria's private automobile market despite the Federal Government's push for CNG adoption.