The federal government has said that at least $980 million has been raised to finance the construction of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) centres across the country.
Daughter stations have also grown from just seven to 350 in the last 18 months.
Programme Director of the Presidential CNG Initiative (PCNGI), Michael Oluwagbemi, disclosed this on Wednesday in a keynote address in Abuja during the launch of the NASENI-Portland CNG daughter station, auto conversion, as well as training centre.
According to him, the number of vehicles converted so far has risen from about 4,000 to 100,000, highlighting that over ₦720 billion has been invested by private sector players in acquiring CNG trucks and building daughter stations.
According to him, the PCNGI has deliberately worked with the industry to roll out conversion incentives for adoption, including the provision of conversion kits for transport unions, with up to about 90 per cent discount.
Oluwagbemi stressed that the response from the public has been rapid, stating that industries like Bua, Nigerian Bottling Company, among others, have more recently invested around ₦720 billion to acquire not just CNG trucks, but also in daughter stations.
“We used to have just seven conversion centres in Nigeria. I’m going to report to you that just 18 months later, actually 12 months of implementation, since we started implementation in May of last year, we now have well over 315 conversion centres across the country.
“From just five states that have CNG ability to dispense CNG fuel, the ability to convert, and of course the ability to train and to enable manpower, we’re now able to increase that number to 20. We are on track before the end of the year to have at least 30 of Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to have CNG capacity,” Oluwagbemi added.
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On the need for collaboration in the industry, the PCNGI programme director thanked NASENI-Portland for raising the bar in terms of partnership in the CNG segment of the energy sector.
“I’m pleased to report to you that just 18 months later, we’ve tracked over $980 million worth of investments in the CNG sector. This easily is the fastest-growing sector in the country today, and continues to grow in leaps and bounds. Our last mandate was to regulate and to work with regulators for growth.
“This mandate is very critical, because without clear regulations in and out of the industry, it’s going to be impossible for both investors as well as participants to do so, to engage,” he emphasised.
In his remarks, the Chief Executive of Portland Gas, Folajimi Mohammed, said that with the ongoing CNG transformation, Nigeria was set to lead the future in terms of clean energy, noting that beyond commissioning the facility, the partnership was also about nurturing a vision.
“It is a vision of a Nigeria with cleaner energy, where transport operators enjoy lower costs of fuelling, where our environment is cleaner and we breathe easier, where the promise of sustainable goals is not an aspiration but a reality.
“This CNG autogas station with NASENI-Portland stands as a bold declaration that Nigeria is ready, capable and determined to lead the cleaner energy future. It is the product of innovation, persistence and resilience and an overall partnership.
“Our collaboration with NASENI is a testament that everything is possible when the public and private come together. NASENI has shown itself to be a pioneer, not content to simply oversee projects, but determined to create it. By embracing collaboration, they have proven that development in Nigeria can be both rapid and responsive,” the Portland Gas CEO stated.
