The Federal Government has inaugurated the National Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP) in South-West as part of efforts to make gas an alternative energy for industrial, transportation and domestic use.
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, who spoke at the inauguration at Adetiloye Hall in Ado-Ekiti, yesterday, said the programme was a practical demonstration of President Muhammadu Buhari’s commitment to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by using gas value-chain as catalyst for social and economic development in Nigeria.
Sylva, who noted that the implementation phase of the programme would span across the length and breadth of the nation, said that 500,000 young technicians and engineers would be trained and empowered.
MEANWHILE, Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, commended President Buhari’s dedication to implementing programmes directed at improving the lives of the people through job creation, social security schemes, among others.
Fayemi, who inspected some of the gas-powered automobiles displayed outside the venue, assured that his administration would continue to key into life-lifting programmes of the Buhari-led administration.
He said his administration recognised the various benefits embedded in the NGEP initiative, ranging from reduction of importation of fuel to creation of employment opportunity for the youths and improvement of access to gas for transportation and domestics use at affordable price in the state.
The governor, who said that 5,000 youths from Ekiti State would participate in the programmes, added that 20 micro distribution centres would be established across the 16 local councils to enable people have access to affordable and sustainable cooking gas.
Chairman NGEP Committee, Muhammed Ibrahim, in his presentation, disclosed that auto gas, as an alternative fuel, would afford Nigerians cheaper, cleaner and eco-friendly option with less impact on vehicles and the environment.
