As part of the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) initiative, the Federal Government has created the Conversion Incentive Programme geared towards ensuring that the CNG conversion was pushed out, especially through the mass transit and commercial vehicle routes.
The Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative was set up by President Bola Tinubu to create not only the platform for CNG conversion but also to ensure that it was adopted, accepted and implemented.
The Presidential Compressed Natural Gas campaign initiative kicked off in Lagos which attracted representatives from the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Nigerian Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Tricyclists popularly known as ‘Keke Napepe’ among others from across the Southwest including Ogun, Ekiti, Osun, Oyo States, gathered in their numbers to take advantage of the initiative
The Commercial Operations Manager, PICNG, Omoh Omoukhuede, said to kickstart the initiative, the federal government had started off deploying 10,000 kits over the next couple of weeks.
“We have started that today with 10,000 kits going out to different locations including Ogun, Oyo, Kaduna, and Abuja as well as the Lagos state. We are here at the Portland Ojota Conversion Center as part of the First Come, First Served Conversion Incentive Program with regards to PiCNG”. This means that the CNG is here to stay, Omoukhuede added.
The federal government under the watch of President Tinubu had given the directive that a million cars be converted between now and 2027. The Commercial Operations Manager said the directive was on the right track. “We believe that if we keep pushing through this incentive program, especially touching the hearts and minds of the pockets of people, especially Nigerians in the transportation system, we’ll be able to achieve this, he added.
The Commercial Operations Manager said it was an opportunity to push through the CNG initiative starting with the mass transit operators. He said it was very key to ensure that the mass transit system in Lagos, in these other states and also nationwide were keyed into the project, especially from a transportation point of view citing the implications of the present fuel crisis in the country.
“We all know the impact of the fuel price, we understand fully that we have alternatives, gas is one of them”, he voiced.
Omoukhuede narrated that for you to fill up your car right now; it’s going to cost you an arm and a leg. But if you convert to CNG, you’re looking at savings of almost 80 per cent in comparison to how much you actually spend on petrol.
“Just to give you an instance, for you to fill up your normal Toyota four-cylinder car, you’re talking roughly between, well then it was 20, 35, now it’s going up to about 40, 45, 50”, he explained.
But for CNG, you will not spend anything more than 5,000 naira. And you will cover pretty much the same amount of distance as you would if you fill up your car, he stated.
“This is quite spectacle for a lot of people to actually tap into. We urge the private sector as well to come in, to also support this initiative”, he appealed adding that the federal government cannot do it alone.
The Chief Operating Officer, Portland Gas Limited, CNG, Michelle Ejiofor said introducing the CNG into the vehicle, and retrofitting it, actually gives a better emissions as well as it reducing the cost of transportation adding that’s a cleaner energy, and cleaner source of oil.
According to Ejiofor, if we have a lot of the mass transit vehicles being retrofitted with the CNG, it will lower the cost of food, cost of transportation, and then Nigerians get to smile actually.
While calling on all Nigerians to embrace the federal government initiative, Michelle commended the government for also now collaborating with different conversion centers who had been given the mandate to convert these various vehicles into CNG.
She disclosed that the center had received 50 kits where it’s going to convert 50 commercial vehicles into CNG.
At the moment we have over 30 vehicles, so we have a mark of 50. Once we hit the mark of 50, then we have to close adding it’s a free initiative given to the mass transit by the federal government.
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Aside that CNG is a safe gas, Michelle added that it’s safer than the petrol combustion; it reduces emissions, as well as promoting cleaner energy adding it’s going to be on the first-come, first-served basis.
“So for the first-come, first-served program, we have called on various vehicles to come, now, these vehicles will be inspected, will be diagnosed.
Now, the vehicles that actually pass the test will be keyed into the system for the actual conversion. So if your vehicle doesn’t pass the test, then it means you would need to step aside, and maybe if you have minor repairs to do, then you can go ahead and do that and wait for the next program”, Michelle explained.
Basically, we have a diagnostic machine, and then we have the engineers on ground that would inspect your vehicles physically and also using the machine, so once you’re good to go, then we key in you for the conversion, she further added.
