Amidst federal government’s commitment to addressing the challenges posed by the removal of the fuel subsidy, the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas (PCNG) initiative has received a boost with investors staking about $45 million in the programme.
The Project Director of PCNG, Mike Olagbemi, while speaking at the Nigerian Army Auto Switch flag-off held at the Nigeria Institute of Transport Technology (NIIT) in Abuja revealed that the initiative has attracted investors in the oil and gas sector to invest in the establishment of the conversion and refuelling centres across the country.
He said: “We also have increased number of investments in refuelling centers we will have about 100 of them before the end of the year, NIPCO is investing 32; MRS, 10; BoVAS, 10 while the core partners of the Presidential CNG is investing in over 15 centre and the has attracted $45 million.
Olugbemi also mentioned that CNG conversion centres have increased from seven to the current 21 centres across the country, saying the centre would further increase to 45 centres by May 29. He said the aim was to have about one million conversion centres before 2027 and over 3,000 refueling centres driven by 25,000 technicians.
To encourage investment in the sector, he disclosed that it has attracted presidential incentives, including tax and duty waivers as well as secured 80 regulatory standards by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON).
While mentioning that energy security is necessary for the security of the country, he said Nigeria cannot keep depending on other countries for its energy security, assuring that Nigerians would soon start seeing the good in the fuel subsidy removal.
The Minister of Transportation, Said Ahmed Alkali, while declaring open the training stressed that CNG is environmentally friendly, cost-effective and an alternative fuel for mobility.
He mentioned that the training of the Nigerian army engineers was facilitated by NITT with the support of the Ministry of Transportation for two weeks.
