…to partner banks on conversion funding for vehicles’ owners
The Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (P-CNGi) has delivered one hundred and fifty units of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) conversion kits and cylinders for conversion of commercial vehicles in Oyo State.
The kits were offloaded to three designated centres – NIPCO at Toll Gate along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway; Automation Auto Gas, Podo Industrial Village and Bovas, Ajibode retail outlet in which transport unions are expected to present their buses for conversion to CNG.
The CNG initiative by the Federal Government is aimed at reducing the cost of transportation following hike in the prices of petrol and diesel.
Louisa Afu, Business Development Executive of P-CNGi, who said the conversion of the commercial vehicles to CNG are free of charge, noted that “this conversion initiative is free for commercial vehicles of Unions -NARTO, NURTW, RTEAN and State transport vehicles
“The delivery of the 150 kits for conversion is the first phase while the Federal Government will still do more as time goes on.”
According to her, this is the President’s way of telling Nigerians that he feels their pains as he had earlier promised to provide one million free conversion kits for the commercial sector to help moderate transportation fares across the Country.
Read also: FG distributes CNG conversion kits to states, targets 1m vehicles
While calling on Nigerians to switch to the CNG option for a safer, cheaper and cleaner transportation experience, he stated that the Country has abundant gas which would make the conversion initiative sustainable.
“CNG is proper and better option. Gas is cheaper, sustainable and safer. Nigeria is a gas country, because we have more gas than oil. Gas is more sustainable. We have refilling stations in Ibadan, and more are still coming up”, he added.
Afu, who stated that talks were ongoing with banks to get conversion financing for individual vehicle owners to enable them benefit from the initiative, said conversion of vehicles to CNG varies in different centres between N900,000 and N1.2 million.
The P-CNGi Business Development Executive, however, noted that vehicles from 1996 upward were CNG-compliant.
Ademola Adeoye, Vice Chairman, Oyo state Park Management System, PMS, who lauded the initiative by the Federal Government, said transport fare would be reduced when all commercial drivers key into the use of CNG.
“The CNG has reduced the cost we spent on petrol, as soon as our members embrace the initiative, the cost of transportation will begin to reduce”, he sadi.
But, Sowole Jaiyeola, who just converted his Toyota Corolla 2010 model two months ago, lamented that the cost of conversion to CNG is still high, urging the Government to reduce the cost of CNG conversion for more Nigerians to embrace it.
