The federal government through the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (PCNGI) has intensified its drive to facilitate the conversion of commercial vehicles from petrol to CNG in order to reduce the cost of transportation.
The PCNGI signed an agreement with the Airport Taxi Operators in the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja to convert 800 vehicles to CNG for free to reduce airport transport fare.
In turn the taxi operators are expected to reduce fares by 30 per cent once the conversions are done.
Recall that President Bola Tinubu approved the free conversion of one million commercial vehicles, including airport taxis, to alleviate high public transport due to various increases in the price of petrol across the country.
Programme director/chief executive, PCNGI, Michael Oluwagbemi, at the agreement signing on Tuesday in Abuja said there would be a 30 per cent discount on airport shuttle fare once being implemented.
Oluwagbemi, represented by Folarin Oworo, programme execution Coordinator, PCNGI said the conversion was in fulfilment of President Bola Tinubu’s promise to convert one million commercial vehicles to cushion high transportation fare due to fuel price increase.
“The airport taxis operators have about 800 fleet of vehicles and we have agreed that once we hit 50 per cent conversion, which is about 400 vehicles, 30 per cent discount will be implemented immediately.
“There are various prices based on the distance one is travelling, so the 30 per cent will be applied accordingly based on the current prices for the areas one is going.
“A red card with prices and discount will also be available in the vehicle based on the passenger’s destination. And to ensure compliance there will be regular monitoring for diligent delivery,” he said.
He said it also had conversion partners with accredited centres to achieve the aim, adding that there were about seven refilling stations in Abuja against one being used when the programme commenced a year ago.
He expressed optimism that more stations are coming up as the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), responsible for licensing new stations has many approvals on that development.
Oluwagbemi also allayed fear entertained by Nigerians on explosion of CNG vehicles, saying explosion could only occur if the conversion was done illegally, with locally manufactured cylinders.
“Cylinders used for CNG are practically bullet proof and cannot explode or break. So we implored Nigerians not to cut corners.
“The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has also certified the CNG cylinders the P-CNGI is using. We guarantee in our conversion that an explosion cannot occur unless there is intentional tampering with it.
“We have different sizes of cylinders – 65 and 75 litres to reduce time of refilling. Going forward we will introduce various sizes and shapes to suit vehicles and loads to carry,” he said.
In response, spokesman of Airport Taxi Operators, Aliyu Abdulaziz Aliyu, Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport appreciated the PCNGI for signing the agreement for the purpose the federal government initiated the programme.
Aliyu, who thanked the government for the free of charge service said the operators were looking forward to seeing their vehicles converted immediately from petrol to CNG to drastically reduce airport taxi fare.
Also speaking, manager, Salma Auto CNG, Yunus Ismail, while thanking the PCNGI on the development, expressed readiness to convert the fleet of vehicles being targeted based on the agreement.
Secretary, Exodus Motors, Emmanuel Ike, also appealed to the federal government to create more CNG refilling centres because by the time more vehicles were converted, there would be difficulty in refilling.
