Recently, a claim surfaced on X (formerly Twitter) that a bus powered by Compressed natural gas (CNG) was involved in an accident in Lagos. The post, which has had over 591,000 views and over 8,000 engagements, claimed that the CNG-powered bus burned to pieces.
Quick Take: The post shared on X claiming that CNG-powered but burnt to pieces in Lagos is False.
Full Story
Following the increasing campaign by the Nigerian government urging citizens to embrace the use of CNG, there has been a tirade of pushback, with lots of critics claiming that CNG-powered buses are unsafe.
On the 30th of January, news broke of an accident involving a bus accident on the Third Mainland Bridge, Lagos. Media and eyewitnesses reported that the bus caught had gone up in flames after hitting the culvert of the bridge, forcing passengers to flee.
TVC News Nigeria and News Central TV published news of the accident. Also, eyewitness videos of the ghastly accident can be seen here, here, here, and here.
However, posts began to emerge that the bus involved in the accident was CNG-powered.
The post was tracked to have been first posted on X by SizZzle, who used the handle @n6oflife6, on January 30th at 6:33 p.m. The account identified itself as a parody account, businessman, journalist, Coolfm Radio legend, and rapper.
“A CNG Powered BRT Bus just burnt to Pieces on 3rd Mainland Bridge. Kudos to the Fire Service men who arrived on the scene…,” his post read.
The post quickly gained attention and was seen by 591,000 people, with 1,800 reposts and 6,700 likes. Similar posts were also seen here, here and on Facebook here.
Verification
We meticulously analysed multiple media reports and eyewitness accounts to verify the claim regarding the alleged CNG-powered bus incident.
While this incident was reported by reputable news outlets such as TVC News Nigeria and News Central TV, the assertion that the bus was powered by CNG wasn’t substantiated by the users. In the news published by TVC News Nigeria, they reported the bus was a Red BRT bus, as corroborated by News Central TV with a video.
Also, multiple eye-witness videos of the accident taken from different angles were examined, and no sign of any gas cylinder could be seen in or around the accident scene. Some of the videos analysed can be seen here, here, here, here, and here.
The Presidential Initiative for Compressed Natural Gas (PICNG) has also denied that the bus involved in the accident was CNG-powered, adding that only small CNG buses are being deployed within the city.
“We wish to state that the BRT bus in question was not powered by CNG as, at the moment, PICNG has only deployed CNG-powered small buses within the city, and none of our vehicles have been involved in any such incident,” a statement by the PICNG partly read.
Conclusion: After a thorough examination, it is evident that the claim regarding a CNG-powered bus being involved in a fire incident in Lagos is unfounded and, therefore, false.
This verification has been produced with support from BO Foundation for Inclusive Media (BOFIM) and WITNESS.