The Federal Government yesterday disclosed that the new Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) programme will reduce the country’s petrol imports by 5.5 billion litres as well as slash the yearly expenditure on bringing in the fuel by $4.4 billion. The disclosure was made in Abuja at a programme themed: “Co-creation Session on Nigeria’s Gas Vehicle Monitoring System Engagement”, organized by the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (P-CNGi).
In a presentation at the event, the coordinator of regulations, Compliance and Facilitation of the PCNGi, Zayyan Tambari, reiterated that the Federal Government plans to convert 1 million vehicles in the coming years. The PCNGi office further stressed that about $890 million investment would be required to develop infrastructure for the alternative fuel programme being executed by the Bola Tinubu administration. Tambari explained that the government expects CNG to replace 20 per cent of the current 50 million litres of petrol consumed in the country daily by the time the government begins to ramp up the programme as part of the fiscal gains of the gas transition.
The engineer added that with a decrease of 15 million litres of petrol consumption daily, natural gas supply cost will be $250 million annually. Also speaking, the Programme Director and CEO of the PCNGi office, Michael Oluwagbemi, stated that the meeting was organized to understand the potential hiccups as the scheme gains momentum. Minister of State, Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, assured the participants that the government was committed to fully utilizing the nation’s gas resources.
