36 States Will Be Mobilised And Sensitised On CNG By End Of 2024—Folarin Oworu

Mr Folarin Oworu, says all 36 states will be fully mobilised and sensitised on the conversion of vehicles using petrol to compressed natural gas by the end of 2024.

Oworu, who is the programme Coordinator, Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (PCNGI), said that CNGI is a key component of President Bola Tinubu administration’s palliative measures introduced to ameliorate the effects of the fuel subsidy removal policy on the Nigerian masses.

According to reports, the initiative will bring relief to Nigerians by promoting the use of CNG as a better and more affordable alternative to fuel.

Oworu disclosed this while speaking at a park rally held at Mando Motor Park in Kaduna, explained that the project targets commercial vehicles across the country.

The kickoff in Kaduna was done with 100 conversion kits and the next point of the rally would be Lagos, covering all the 36 states before the year runs out.

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Oworu said, “What we are doing here today is front-to-back CNG conversion mobilisation.

”Mr President has decided to make the conversion free for the road transport unions, that is, the NURTW, NATO, and other road transport unions.

“The idea is to bring down the cost of commercial transportation and how to do this by converting the commercial vehicles of transport unions to make their running costs cheaper.”

According to him, the idea is for them to translate the savings up to the end users by making transportation cheaper.

“And we are starting here in Kaduna, and from Kaduna we shall move to Lagos, and before the end of the year, we would have gone to the whole 36 States” he added.

“The signing of the MOU was done by the conversion partners we have at the various locations we have where the commercial vehicles will go to and have their vehicles converted.

“The conversion kits are one hundred per cent free as the conversion cost is one hundred percent free.

“The government has various partners in various states of the federation.”

He said that the project beginning in Kaduna would give out 100 conversion kits, adding, “This is not the end, because the plan is that we will be back again before the 100 run out.

“We are targeting close to 250,000 conversions of vehicles per year, starting from next year.

“The conversion kits worth N1 million to N1.5 million, depending on the type of kits you have, include kits of four, six-cylinder, and eight-cylinder vehicles.

“We have different capacities for the CNG storage. We have 60 litres, 65 litres, 75 litres.

”So, it depends on the concentration of these kits and the nature of the price,” Oworu said.

Mr Najim Yasin, former National President of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), in a goodwill message, commended Tinubu’s initiative on the P-CNGI agenda aimed at converting commercial vehicles to CNG.

Yasin commended the president’s support for the transport sector and the decision to provide conversion kits free of charge to commercial vehicles, estimated to benefit 1 million vehicles.

“I urge the entire transport organisation across the country to key into the programme,” Yasin urged. (NAN)