The Federal Government has announced plans to commence the conversion of official vehicles belonging to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) from petrol to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) in designated centres in Abuja.
The government says that the aim of the initiative is to cushion the effects of rising petrol costs in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s commitment to adopt gas as an alternative fuel for the country.
Speaking on the initaitive, Chief Timipre Sylva, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, stated the plan during a visit to an autogas dispensing station and conversion inspection exercise, at the NNPC autogas dispensing facility in Jahi and Autolady Garage in Abuja, where some government official vehicles were being converted.
During the inspection visit, Mr Abdulkadir Saidu, the Executive Secretary, Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), stated that:
“Nigerians can rest assured of the government’s undying commitment to providing a cheaper and cleaner alternative to petrol, as prices have been on an upward climb in recent months following the deregulation of the downstream sector.
“Aside from the fact that autogas is cheaper, we are also concerned about making the conversion of cars affordable so that Nigerians can indeed reap the advantage of this new policy,”
Also speaking after the inspection, he also urged Nigerians to embrace the gas-powered vehicles as they are cheaper and more environmentally friendly than any other fuel available on the market today and that some filling stations across the country were already keying into the plan by adding autogas dispensers to their stations.
