Federal Inaugurates Gas Vehicle Monitoring System To Boost Adoption, Safety

The Federal Government has launched the Nigerian Gas Vehicle Monitoring System (NGVMS) designed to promote safety, accountability, and environmental integrity in the nation’s Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) sector.

Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Gas), Rt. Hon. Ekperikpe Ekpo, speaking at the pilot launch held at an NNPC Retail Station in Abuja, Ekpo said the NGVMS would ensure that only vehicles converted at accredited facilities with certified kits can access CNG at approved stations.

The NGVMS is a System that was designed and developed by the PiCNG in collaboration with key government agencies like Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Nigeria Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) and Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).

Other key private sector partners that collaborated closely with us on the program includes NNNP (NNPC Retails), NIPCO, BOVAS and many others in the mobility CNG ecosystem inclusive of some conversion centres.

The key objective of the NGVMS is to ensure a reliable, efficient and trusted verification framework for all CNG fueled vehicles in Nigeria.

The system would mitigate against the actions of unlicenced and unapproved operators in the mobility CNG value chain, which if allowed could derail the success recorded so far in the mobility CNG adoption.

The Minister noted that the system would provide end-to-end oversight, from conversion to refuelling, guaranteeing the safety of citizens and the integrity of Nigeria’s growing CNG ecosystem.

Ekpo described the initiative as a milestone under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and the Decade of Gas Initiative, aimed at making CNG the affordable and sustainable energy choice for Nigerians.

Chairman/CEO of the Presidential Initiative on CNG (PiCNG), Ismaeel Ahmed, in his remark disclosed that over $1 billion in private sector investments has flowed into Nigeria’s CNG value chain.

He added that more conversion and refuelling stations will be commissioned nationwide before year-end.

“Today, after a painstaking and collaborative design and development phase of the NGVMS, which commenced in April 2024 with the Co-Creation Workshop by key agencies and partners, we are pleased to Launch a Pilot Scheme of the programme, which will run live in some select stations in all the geopolotical zones with active CNG infrastructure for some period.

“This is to ensure that the system is performing optimally to design intentions, by addressing any observed design or development bugs and align all necessary partners and stakeholders on its operations before full nationwide deployment of the NGVMS programme,” he stated.

Leaders of various transport unions in Nigeria, in separate speeches at the event, expressed gratitude to President Bola Tinubu for launching the PiCNG to mitigate the impact of fuel subsidy removal in 2023.

They said that under the initiative, members have benefited from over one million free CNG kits, buses, and tricycles (Keke), which has led to significantly reduced transportation costs and subsequently lowered the prices of foodstuffs across the country.

The union leaders urged the government to prioritize commercial vehicles in the CNG project, ensuring that they are given preference.