Presidential Initiative Signs Deals with 75 Firms to Boost Gas-Powered Vehicle Nationwide

The Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (PCNGI), a project aimed at increasing the use of gas to power automobiles in Nigeria, has inked separate agreements with 75 conversion enterprises around the country as part of the government’s strategy to reduce dependence on petrol and diesel.

With agreements now in place in eight states and plans to expand to nine more in eight weeks, the organization’s Chief Executive Officer, Michael Oluwagbemi, told journalists in Abuja over the weekend that the office had been able to distribute over 6,000 to 7,000 conversion kits in the last 45 days.

“We’ve signed over 75 conversion partners from eight states: Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Delta, Kogi, Nasarawa, FCT, and Kaduna.

“Later in month, we’ll add nine additional states, including Kwara, Ekiti, Akwa Ibom, Abia, Rivers, Enugu, Kano, Niger, and others,” Oluwagbemi said.

He stated that the PCNGI expected an additional 12,000 kits in the following 30 days, allowing it to complete more conversions by the end of this year, with an additional 100,000 to 250,000 kits before the end of Q1 next year.

Oluwagbemi stated that this will allow the government to meet its objective of 150,000 direct conversions within the next year, noting that there were just seven conversion centers in Nigeria when the plan began.

However, I am delighted to inform you that as a consequence of our efforts, there are now over 130 conversion centers across the country. And we have an additional 120 by the end of the year, bringing the total to over 250,” he added.

In terms of refuelling, he highlighted that when the programme began, Nigeria had only 13 centers, most of which were located in Benin, where the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) had previously conducted a pilot in 2017.

According to him, there are currently 55 fueling stations, with an additional 15 scheduled by the end of the month, with the deployment of around 500 CNG buses this year and the release of 80 so far.

Oluwagbemi claimed that the balance of some equipment was being manufactured by local manufacturers since shipping channels from China, India, and other nations were clogged as a result of the Yemen situation in the Middle East, slowing imports.

“Some states in Nigeria have CNG capability but no dispensers. So we’re working with governors and local companies to make sure these dispensers are available to them, either through our program or through private sector investment.”

These dispensers are not manufactured in Nigeria at the moment. We are also enabling local manufacturers and capacity to ensure that we get it across to them.  But we want to ensure the President’s promise to the Nigerian people that we move them to a cleaner, safer, more reliable gas future.

“Our nation has been subsidising petrol for between $8 billion to $10 billion consistently in the last 15 years, and every single dollar of that $8 billion to $10 billion has been borrowed, while we as a country in the same period, just in the last five years, we’ve burnt and flared $12.5 billion worth of gas,” he added.

With the estimated 1 million conversions, the PCNGI chief executive stated that there will be 100,000 direct jobs that will be created while 25,000 technicians will be enabled across 1,000 conversion centres as well as over 2,300 refuelling stations.

On how Nigerians will be able to know commercial vehicles powered by CNG to benefit from the lower fares, Oluwagbemi pointed out that it is usually indicated on the buses, but further stressed that some of them still run partially on petrol.

“In India, for example, there is a policy of not registering petrol or diesel vehicles for industry or commercial use. And I think that’s a policy that every state in Nigeria should look into as soon as they have CNG capacity. Mass transit vehicles are responsible for over 80 percent of our PMS consumption,” he explained.

He also used the opportunity to simultaneously launch the distribution of over 1,250 CNG kits in some states to allow commercial drivers to participate in the conversion incentive programme.