Kaduna — The Federal Government has unveiled the first Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) conversion centre in Kaduna, saying President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has a target of having a million out of about 17million vehicles on Nigeria roads converted to CNG vehicles before the end of 2027.
Speaking at the groundbreaking event for the CNG Conversion Centre at Kakau in Chikun LGA of Kaduna state, the Director of Presidential Initiative on Compressed Natural Gas, Engr. Micheal Oluwagbemi said Nigeria's gas deposit could power the transport and industrial sectors for 97 years.
According to him, President Tinubu has resolved to invest in the use of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) as an alternative to fuel in the transportation and industrial sectors.
He said when completed, the CNG vehicle conversion centre which would serve the North West Region, will convert Petrol vehicles to dual fuel engine, enabling them to run on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).
"The Federal Government is piloting the conversion of the PMS vehicles to gas engines through its palliative project, which has been captured in the 2023 supplementary budget. Uunder that project, 55,000 vehicles will be converted at subsidized rate,",he said.
"Nigeria is long overdue for this gas revolution, we are a gas country that happens to have crude oil. We have gas in large quantity that can last us for 97 years if fully utilized.So, we should take gas seriously for industrialization and transportation."
"This is why President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has taken the bold step he had after the sound economic policy of fuel subsidy removal that was importing foreign fuel into Nigeria, to be smuggled to neighboring countries, exporting job and importing poverty.He has decided to replace it with the use of Nigeria's own resources, which is gas for the benefit of Nigerians and the development of Nigeria."
"We are going to be converting 55,000 vehicles at discounted rate under the palliative programne that is captured in the supplementary budget. While over 11,500 platforms, including buses and tricycles that will be using CNG will be procured."
"President Tinubu has a target of having a million out of about 17million vehicles on Nigeria roads converted to CNG vehicles before the end of 2027, which means that, hundreds of thousands of jobs will be created in the CNG value chain."
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" CNG is over 40 percent cheaper than PMS and safer than petrol for vehicular and industrial use," he said.
Chief Executive Officer of Rolling Energy Limited and Proprietor of the Kaduna conversion centre, Mubarak Umar said his firm was committed to assisting the Federal Government towards delivering the CNG Programme.
According to him,"my company will be building six additional centres across the country within a year."
