Federal Govt Mulls Adoption Of Gas-powered Vehicles For Mass Transit

The federal government is considering the use of Compressed Natural Gas (CNP), which the country has in abundance, to reposition the transportation sector in urban centres across the country.

This Minister of State for Transportation, Prince Ademola Adewole Adegoroye, stated this when he received the report on “Implementation-Ready Report on National Strategy Development for the Adoption of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) based Transportation System in Nigeria’s Urban Cities” on Tuesday in Abuja.

Speaking further, the minister, while assuring that the report would be given prompt attention, appreciated his erstwhile colleague, saying: “I appreciate that the last minister who was here before, Senator Gbemisola Saraki, had the initiative to set up a committee to work on this, I think it is a wonderful Initiative.”

He, however, stated that, “I assure you that Nigerians must say something about us that when we were here, that we took steps to get things done and being in tandem with what the world wants or what the world desires at this time”

Spokesperson of the Ministry, Eric Ojiekwe, said the minister also said that green house gas emissions pose health and dire environment consequences and Nigeria cannot afford to lag behind considering that she is a signatory to Green House Emission Policy aimed at reducing carbon emissions in the environment.

Earlier, while presenting the report to the minister, the permanent secretary of the ministry, Dr Magdalene Ajani, stated that the report was sponsored by World Bank and done by Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP), through the Federal Ministry of Environment with highlights on strategic steps to be taken in the adoption of CNG vehicles in the transportation sector in the country.

She said, “It would help us in kick-starting the revolution in the change of the transport sector, with vehicle conversion to CNG on the adoption of CNG vehicles, for our road transport mode within the urban city to start with.”

She further stated that the “Original Equipment Manufacturers in couple of years down will probably not be supporting vehicles that are powered by diesel or gas as everyone is moving towards electric vehicles, adding that the report takes into cognizance how Nigeria can move from diesel and Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol) to natural gas and in about 10 to 15 years.”

Recall that in May, 2019, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved a National Action Plan to reduce short-lived climate pollutants.

This plan, developed by the Federal Ministry of Environment, aims to improve air quality and reduce Nigeria’s contribution to climate change, through 22 specific mitigation measures in eight source sectors (transportation, cooking and lighting in households, industry, waste, oil and gas, agriculture, power and HFCs) with the Federal Ministry of Transportation vested with the task of coordinating the implementation of these mitigating measures.