FG begins free CNG conversion, targets 1 m vehicles nationwide

By Adewale Sanyaolu, Tony Osauzo, Benin and Noah Ebije, Kaduna

The Federal Government has commenced the distribution of the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) conversion kits nationwide to fast-track the change of petrol and diesel-powered vehicles to use of CNG.

The Programme Director, Presidential CNG Initiative (Pi-CNG), Mr Micheal Oluwagbemi, disclosed this during an inspection tour and distribution of kits to six CNG conversion centres in Abuja

The six conversion centres inspected by the team were the NIPCO Oil and Gas Station, on Airport Road, Kia Motors at Utako, Mijo Gas Auto in Jahi, ABG CNG at Kubwa, Bovas Filling station in Wuse Zone 5 and C&L Mart Energy Solutions Ltd at Lokogoma,

Oluwagbemi said the CNG initiative by President Bola Tinubu would provide cheaper and cleaner vehicle fuelling alternative for Nigerians.

The Coordinator said the Federal Government had signed up with over 75 conversion partners officially in eight states, including Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Edo, Delta, Kogi, FCT and Kaduna.

“These eight states are the ones where the conversion incentive programme has kicked off. In the next six to eight weeks, we’ll be having additional nine states.The states to be included are Kwara, Ekiti, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Abia, Enugu, Kano, and Niger. These states will be joining the category of states where we have activated the programme,” he said.

Oluwagbemi said they were working with governors and the private sector to ensure that the conversion kits were made available to beneficiaries.

The Coordinator of Business Development and Strategy of the initiative, Mrs. Omolara Obileye, said the programme would reduce dependence on fuel.

She reiterated that while the commercial transporters would have 100 percent conversion-free, private cars are expected to pay a fraction of the cost of the conversion.

In Benin City, Edo State, the government signed agreements with partners that would make the project work.

Speaking at the event, Head, Pi-CNG, Tosin Coker, said the launch was carried out simultaneously in five other states as part of President Bola Tinubu’s efforts to mitigate the sufferings posed by the continuous increase in the price of petrol, explaining that the project was targeting one million vehicles across the country, and that the conversion would be at no cost to the owners of the vehicles.

“Mr. President has directed that we incentivise all commercial vehicles in the country. We have a target to convert one million vehicles across the nation in partnership with the transport associations. They can come to Pi-CNG partners’ conversion centres and have their vehicles converted at no cost to them, including the cost of conversion.

“This is a very laudable policy and initiative by the president. The idea is that as the government is making this available, it will reduce the cost of petrol and transportation and they can pass those savings on to the masses,” Coker stated.

He said on conceptualisation about one year ago, President Tinubu set up a steering committee with three core mandates of incentivising the project, enabling the financing infrastructure and the regulation of the new scheme and explained that for the financing, there were partners who had put the financing in place to make it available for corporate entities, civil servants, salary earners, individuals and companies that want to invest in the initiative.

Coker announced that an arrangement involving multi-agencies of the Federal Government, including the Nigerian Gas Vehicle Monitoring System, Pi-CNG, the Nigerian Automobile Development and Design Council (NADDC), the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), the Federal Roads Safety Commission (FRSC) and National Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), had been been put in place to regulate the CNG project.

In the South-West region, the kits were dispatched from a NIPCO warehouse located in Ibafo, along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

The PCNGi team moved to Lagos where it commenced the inspection, distribution, and installation of CNG kits for commercial motorists. CNG cylinders and kits were allocated across three centers in the state. The Federal Government, through the PCNGi, has rolled out 10,000 conversion kits across the country, aiming to reach a total of one million by 2027.

Speaking at the Conversion Center in Ojota, the Commercial Operations Manager at the PCNGi, Omoh Imoukhuede, said, “As part of our initiative, we have created the conversion incentive program geared towards ensuring that the CNG conversion is pushed out, especially through the mass transit and commercial vehicles route. To kickstart or activate this, we have started off deploying 10,000 kits, and we’ll start that over the next couple of weeks. We actually kickstarted that today with 1,000 kits going out to different locations in Ogun, Oyo, Kaduna, Abuja, and of course, Lagos. We are here today as part of the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative set up by Mr. President to create not only the platform for CNG conversion but also to ensure that CNG is adopted, accepted, and implemented.”

Also speaking, Kayode Opeifa, Executive Director, Centre for Sustainable Mobility and Access Development (CenSMAD), maintained that energy diversification in the transportation sector is key to eradicating poverty. He emphasized that this current initiative is one that really speaks to access for mobility and a lot of the sustainable development goals. He called on Nigerians in the commercial transportation sector to step up and embrace the transition. “When this is done, you are eliminating poverty and improving livelihood while making people have access to infrastructure and government services. They can now go to hospitals without spending much,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, the partners have affirmed that the push for CNG adoption in Nigeria is here to stay and have committed to supporting the government in achieving its goals. The MD/CEO of Autogig International Resources Limited, Tope Bukola-Ojo, stated this at the Conversion Center in Gbagada. “I believe that this partnership will continue and we will see how best we can assist the government in pushing it as we have to leverage on it for our energy security purpose. It is the way to go. And the fact that everybody wants to experience a greener environment is one of the reasons why we have to push this,” he said.

The Coordinator, logistics and supply chain, P-CNG, Thomas Ayu, who led the team to one of the conversion workshops, Rolling Energy Station in  Kaduna, said the P-CNG was providing free conversion kits and installation for commercial drivers with the first 100 vehicles in Kaduna city and 50 vehicles in Zaria.

Kaduna city has two conversion workshops, which include Rolling Energy and Behin Markpoint, while Zaria uses National Institute of Transport Technology (NITT).

Ayu said the beneficiaries include members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers of Nigeria (NURTW), National Association of Transport Owners (NATO), and Association of Taxis, among others.

He said the impact of the removal of subsidies on petrol and the government’s emphasis on lower cost of running vehicles on CNG necessitated the initiative.

“We are converting transporters’ vehicles totally free; both cylinders fixed and cost of conversion is totally free. So, we are calling on transporters, unions, NURTW and NATO to take advantage of this programme to come forward and convert their vehicles.

“Here in Kaduna State, we have 150 kits for the programme. We hope to provide more kits and cylinders in the coming months. We are targeting 10,000 kits for free across the country within this month.

“Our mandate is not about personal cars at the moment, it is strictly for people in the transport sector, commercial vehicles and the transport unions. We have not started converting for private individuals and organisations yet.

“We are converting for people in commercial sector so that the impact of the removal of fuel subsidy will be reduced. The advantage of CNG is that it is a clean energy. It is cheaper and effective. There is nothing to fear in having gas in your vehicle. We are calling on people to come out enmasse to convert their cars,” Ayu said.

It was observed that many NURTW members were eager to convert their vehicles, apparently working closely with the Federal Government to ensure a seamless process.