-Deborah Akinyosoye
President Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday, charged Nigerians to embrace the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), which he said had come to stay.
Mr Ekperikpe Ekpo, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), said, while addressing State House correspondents, that the President gave the charge at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting.
“We are well aware that the President set up a Presidential Committee on the CNG to drive the CNG project.
“It is left for us to inform the general public that CNG has come to stay, and we have to follow that route because CNG is safe, cheaper, and protects the environment,” said the Minister.
He said the President also directed that most of the filling stations across the country should be converted to CNG stations with conversion kits to enable people to convert their vehicles to CNG.
“It is important to note that when you are using CNG, you save a lot of money. A litre of fuel can go for N1000, but you get CNG at N200 per litre, which saves you N800.
“With the passion of Mr. President and the push that he has given to us, we’ll try to drive the CNG programme to reach the nooks and crannies of this country.
“We have to take advantage of the natural resources, gas, that God has endowed us with,” said Ekpo.
The Minister assured that gas was available in large quantity, and the only challenge was infrastructure to deliver the product to filling stations.
He, however, said the President directed that adequate infrastructure should be provided to ensure the delivery of gas to filling stations.
“What we produce in our country is more than enough for us to use for CNG, and of course, you know, we are exporting to so many other countries,” he said.
On the high cost of conversion of cars to CNG, the minister said it was because the conversion kits were imported.
He said that with more private investors taking advantage of the CNG project, the price would drastically come down eventually.
Alhaji Mohammed Idris, Minister of Information and National Orientation, said the President and members of FEC believed that there was a need for further enlightenment of the Nigerian public to know the advantages of using CNG.
“It is not just because it is cheaper, but because it also marks our own transition from fossil fuels to cleaner energy that the world is moving towards,” he said.