The National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) has urged the President to give the agency approval to convert all the vehicles in the State House fleet to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG).
This was as the president commissioned NASENI’s CNG Conversion Centre in Abuja, aimed at driving sustainable energy.
Khalil Halilu, the Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of NASENI, made this call in his welcome speech at the commissioning.
Halilu said the facility can convert 15 cars every two hours, translating into an output of 2,700 conversions every month.
“Mr. President, by our calculations, if Nigeria is able to have 10 of this kind of facility in each of the 36 States and the FCT, we will be able to convert every vehicle in the country to CNG within one year”, he said.
“We are asking for your approval to do this, and showcase our capabilities. we are offering to carry out CNG conversions for every Ministry, Department and Agency of the Federal Government at a cost.”
According to the EVS, the NASENI-Portland CNG Conversion and Training Centre is a partnership between NASENI and Portland Gas Limited.
The centre is a state-of-the-art facility for the conversion of fossil fuel vehicles to CNG, a cleaner and more cost-effective alternative.
Speaking further, Halilu disclosed the agency is willing to partner with the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
He said NASENI is willing to make available to its contractors NASENI’S CNG generators, for test-running the lighting project on Bill Clinton Drive (the highway leading to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport) to encourage them to purchase the Agency’s streetlights for the project.
In turn, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu directed Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the country to patronise technologies and products of NASENI to support Made-in-Nigeria goods and reduce importation.
The President represented by Godswill Akpabio, the President of the Senate, gave the directive while commissioning the centre.
President Bola Tinubu who doubles as Chairman of, the NASENI Governing Board, said he is aware that the Agency is in collaboration with private sector players in the commercialisation of its products, noting that the Presidential CNG Initiative (PCNGi), which NASENI has keyed into is the way to tap into Nigeria’s abundant gas resources and to also attain cleaner energy.
Furthermore, he said the use of CNG-powered transportation would reduce pressure on foreign exchange, and save money for vehicle owners by converting fuel-emitting vehicles to CNG.
He equally lauded the Agency for working with private sector collaborators in the effort to establish a lithium ore processing plant in the country to produce lithium batteries for electric vehicles.
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