FG to freely convert 1m vehicles to CNG

By Nsikak Ekpenyong

The Federal Government has commenced the process of converting 1 million commerical vehicles from fuel to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), in 120 centres

Project Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative, Michael Oluwagbemi, disclosed this at a motor park rally yesterday in Abuja.

He said: “Today, we are witnessing one of many actions that Mr President has promised us. Those actions are meant to allow you, operators, in this transport sector, to benefit from the government palliatives.

“We know that in the overall rise in transport cost, many of our people are asking for it. The activities we are witnessing today which is the handover of these conversion kits to various organizations, that will enable you to convert your vehicles so that it can run not just on patrol but on gas and to do it for free is a good step in the right direction.

“Mr President has promised that a million vehicles will be converted for free. And I think that is good. It is just one of many actions.

“We are enabling the mechanic workshops as conversion centres, some of whom will be signing in here today to enable you get to that conversion centres.

“When we started this programme last year, we had just 7 of them. But across Nigeria today and because of the assistance of Mr President, we have over 120 centres.”

Oluwagbemi explained that the conversion was for commerical vehicles that constitute 90 % of the transport sector.

But, he however, assured that the private sector and development partners are developing financing programme to enable private vehicle owners key into the initiative.

“In terms of private vehicle owners, they constitute 10% of Nigerian vehicular traffic. We are focused on the mass transit which is 90% and rightly so.

“But I can assure you that the private sector and development partners are developing financing programme to enable private sector, especially employees who earn regular salary to be able to access this opportunity as well. It will go round.

“But at the first instance, I think we are focusing on the mass transit and rightly so, especially union-operated mass transit.

“The plans are firmly in place and you saw our agreement. This agreements have very iron-clad clauses surrounding utilisation an operation.

“We are properly tracking them to ensure that there is also proper certification of conversion that are done to ensure that the vehicles are liable after conversion. Vehicles that are converted will run on both fuel and gas.

“But our intention is to make sure that they run more on gas as increased number of gas stations become very available in these territory,” he said.

The Chairman Board of Trustees of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Najeem Yasin, called on transport operators to key into the initiative to reduce the cost of fuel and transportation.

“We know that the cost of transportation affects everything in the country. Because you must use any of the means of transport as a farmer.

“I call on all you to support this initiative so that the cost of transportation can come down to the barest minimum,” he added.