Michael Oluwagbemi, Chief Executive Officer/Programme Director, Presidential Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Initiative, says 30,000 CNG conversion kits have been procured to be distributed to commercial drivers within 90 days.
Oluwagbemi disclosed this at the Park-to–Park CNG Conversion Mobilisation on Saturday in Lagos.
He added that the CNG initiative was to ensure that commercial drivers would benefit from the palliative measure for transporters.
“We have been across over 14 states, we have been to Ilorin, Ekiti, Lokoja, Aba and Port Harcourt; we have been to the South-East even to the North.
“We are confident we have built a national movement for this conversion.
“What we now need is action, and that is why we are here today. We are acting on what Mr President has said – to roll out and roll out fast.
“ We are here to put to action, our talk in the past six months. This is the time for Nigeria to use the gas.
“Nigeria should believe in this project, there might be some challenges but we should believe in it.
“This is our country, so, we need to support this programme, support Mr President. Don’t be negative, we should be positive in this,” he said.
Oluwagbemi pointed out that CNG was cheaper, cleaner, safer and more reliable, adding that it had 40 per cent less steel emission and 90 per cent fewer pollutants in the air.
“Definitely, there is an advantage to using CNG for the environment. We are already flaring gas. What we are saying is that instead of flaring gas, we use it for the growth of the economy,” he said.
A former commissioner for Transportation in Lagos State, Dr Kayode Opeifa, said that the provision of conversion kits by the Federal Government was in keeping with its promise of easing the effects of fuel price increases, for transporters.
According to him, 150 beneficiaries will collect vouchers for conversion which they will take to an installation centre.
He added that they would refill gas at N250 per kilogramme.
“This will, in turn, increase pocket savings, reduce transport fare and prices of commodities,” he said.
Najeem Yasin, a former National President, Nigerian Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), said that the initiative would positively affect the lives of transporters in the country.
“Today, we are here to launch the programme officially. We started in Kaduna, and today, we are here, in Lagos.
“We appreciate the president of Nigeria for trying to assist transport workers throughout the nation.
“ With the CNG, prices of commercial vehicles should come down, and this will affect all sectors of the economy,” he said.
He said that NURTW was involved in the project to make sure it would go around.
“The whole 36 states would get these free conversion kits, and we assure Mr President that the aim would be actualised,” he said.
He urged all transport associations to bring their lists for conversion.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that 14 conversion centres were represented for signing of the dotted line for mass distribution.
Some of them are Portland Company located at Okota, MBH Power located at Ikorodu, Fix-It Fortified Group, and Dana Motors Group located on Victoria Island.
The others include Mezovest Company located at Lekki, Autogas African Logistics, and Autogas Nigeria Ltd.