The federal government through the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) is ramping up efforts to ensure the penetration of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) for powering vehicles nationwide, with the launching of 12 additional stations in Abuja and Lagos yesterday.
Speaking at the simultaneous inauguration of the facilities, the Group Chief Executive of the NNPC, Mele Kyari, stated that the government was determined to bring the use of the gas-powered vehicles closer to the Nigerian people.
He declared that the CNG drive has since commenced and is irreversible, stressing that with the massive deployment of CNG stations nationwide, Nigerians will get a cleaner and cheaper source of energy.
"It's already rolling out across the counrty, you can see the benefit, people are saying that this works better. It's cheaper , it's cleaner and it's accessible. And what we are going to do is to roll out across all the states of the federation.
"It's already a work in progress, we will construct six CNG mother stations, spread across the country, between now and December, you will see this happen.
"We are also taking another step. We are building LNG stations in Ajaokuta, belonging to us, two with a partnership. What this does is to bring CNG closer across the country.
"Distance matters in transporting gas and that's why we are doing this so that it becomes accessible and becomes easier and this is short term because as soon as we complete the AKK pipeline, it gets much closer to end users, and ultimately as we reduce the distance, cost will come down.
"We will see cheaper and cheaper fuel across the country, particularly areas that are distant from the source of the gas, especially in the northern part of the country", he stated.
With this in place, he stated that Nigerians will find it cheaper to fuel their cars, with CNG becoming an alternative to expensive petrol which currently sells for over N900 per litre in some states in Nigeria.
"And I would like to also indicate that there's no turning back on this. There's simply no way to turn back because this is the right thing to do," he added.
Also speaking, the Managing Director of NNPC Retail, Huub Stockman, stated that Nigerians will save at least 40 per cent of their expenses on fuel by converting their vehicles to CNG-powered ones.
"These stations represent a major step in expanding our CNG presence in the country, marking an important moment in our efforts to diversify Nigeria's energy mix. Six of these 12 states are NNPC Retail's first CNG sites.
"CNG will be about 40 per cent cheaper than petrol in Nigeria, and with continued investments, it will become a significant part of our energy mix. In the next 12 months, NNPC Retail will have launched over 100 CNG sites," he stressed.
According to him, it was the first step to massive deployment of CNG, confirming that four more sites will be added in Abuja and in the next four to six weeks, six sites will be launched in Lagos.
"We're also supporting our implementation partners to set up two mechanical training centres combined with conversion centres in Abuja and Lagos. And it's fantastic that Nigeria is utilising its own natural resources to bring affordable energy to the people of Nigeria," Stokman pointed out.
In his remarks, the Programme Director of the Presidential CNG initiative, Michael Oluwagbemi, who was represented by a Director in the organisation and aide to President Bola Tinubu, Toyin Zubair, said that there will be huge savings from the deployment of CNG.
"When you look at CNG on the other hand, to every car owner, if you move to CNG, at 250 litres of it, looking at the pricing today, between CNG and PMS (petrol), you'd be saving about N6 million per annum, from nowhere.
"Now if you look at this, a lot of people who are already converted, they're saving about N200,000 at the end of every month or about N380,000, depending on how much CNG they're using.
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"So that is on one car, that is N12 million saved on every vehicle, that is going into PMS. Now if you look at the Keke NAPEP, which is the means of transport for many people, and it's a whole lot of business for a lot of people, the average savings per day would be about N7,000 using CNG.
"That translates to about N2.6 million per annum, for a Keke owner, if he moves from PMS to CNG. It may surprise you that the cost of a Keke NAPEP is actually N2.7 million, so that in one year's savings on CNG, you can buy another Keke," he argued.
In his remarks, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, said the commissioning of the stations will not only provide economic benefits by creating jobs and stimulating local economies, it will also contribute significantly to Nigeria's national goals of reducing emissions and combating climate change.
On his part, the Chairman of the NNPC Board of Directors, Chief Pius Akinyelure said increased CNG adoption will foster economic benefits by reducing fuel costs for consumers and businesses alike.
