The Federal Government has said it will stop subsidising poverty, importing unemployment and exporting jobs by leveraging the country’s natural gas resources.
This was revealed by Michael Oluwagbemi, Programme Director of the Presidential Initiative on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), during a stakeholders’ engagement meeting on the Presidential Initiative on CNG held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Friday.
“We will stop subsidising poverty, importing unemployment and exporting jobs. We will be using our own natural gas to drive our transportation sector. To a common man, this translates to a reduction in the cost of transportation,” Oluwagbemi disclosed.
Oluwagbemi said the CNG initiative is projected to save Nigeria approximately $2.5 billion annually and reduce daily fuel consumption by 6 million litres.
These savings, Oluwagbemi noted, could be redirected towards essential infrastructure such as hospitals and roads.
‘Our job is to give incentives to CNG vehicles. To ensure we close the financing gap that exists. There is enough demand for natural gas; all we need to do now is to open stations, pipelines and conversation centres. When we convert our vehicles, 1,000,000 vehicles they will convert, it saves the country about $2.5 billion a year.
“This will also save us 6,000,000 litres a day. These are monies that we can spend on hospitals, on roads.”
Oluwagbemi also added that Nigeria stands to gain a lot from the energy transition in the transportation sector, noting that natural gas is everywhere in the country.
He stated; “First and foremost, CNG is our own resource. Natural gas is everywhere in Nigeria. It is a much more reliable source of fuel in the transportation sector. No longer will there be crises out of Nigeria impact the economic livelihood of the country,
“It has the capacity of reducing inflation. It is cheaper. You can realise between 40 per cent to 50 per cent savings from patrol. This is good for Nigeria and it is safer. It is 18 times safer than petrol and diesel. It is cleaner and safer for the environment.”
