The federal government inaugurated the Conversion Incentive Programme (CIP) for Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) in Ibadan, Oyo State, yesterday. The initiative aims to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal and promote a safer, cleaner, and more reliable transportation future for the country.
Michael Oluwagbemi, the chief executive officer (CEO) and programme director of the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (P-CNGi), said the initiative aims to achieve one of the testaments of President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
Olugbemi stressed the need for Nigerians to take full advantage of the initiative, adding that Nigeria is at the cause of revolution by adopting CNG.
According to him, the President had said that Nigerians should not doubt the initiative; instead, they should allow the nation to leverage its resources.
He lamented that the nation had depended on imported and subsidised petroleum products, putting its destiny, growth, and economy in the hands of third-party nations.
He said, “Nigeria as a nation has continued to pay for expensive PMS and diesel that is not only dexterous to our health but also our finances; the better way is for us to use what we have that is cleaner, cheaper, safer and more reliable.
“Natural gas is everywhere across the nation. Thirty out of 36 states in Nigeria have natural gas reserves. We have enough gas reserves to last us for more than 100 years as one of the largest gas reserve nations in the world and ranked number one in Africa.
“And translating these gas assets for transportation, fueling generators, or our industries is far simpler than building a refinery.
“Dangote refinery has about 650,000 barrels processing capacity per day, which translates to about 100 million litres of petrol per day, which is equivalent to about 36 million vehicles. Suppose you are to power 36 million CNG vehicles. In that case, you won’t need the footprint of the Dangote refinery, so getting PMS is expensive and time- and space-consuming, which makes PMS expensive.”
