Chief Commercial Officer, Dana Motors, Matthews Kuruvilla has identified lower cost as one of the advantages of using Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to power automobiles.
Kuruvilla said CNG was almost 70 per cent cheaper when compared to the normal fuel. He disclosed that as partners to the PICNG on the personal initiative for the conversion, the company had started the conversion with the commercial vehicles.
“It’s a good thing, because considering all the other schemes that have been rolling out, we’re actually seeing the results. The kits are here, the vehicles are here, so we are proud partners, and we are doing it in this location and other locations of Dana Motors.”
“So we’re most happy to be part of the PICNG initiative, and to convert as many vehicles as possible to CNG, starting with commercial vehicles. We’re also just converting ride-sharing vehicles; also we are reaching out to our private customers to convert their vehicles also to CNG,” Kuruvilla said.
He however stressed the need to increase the number of gas filling stations across the federation. He said already, Dana Motors was working with partners, who are also working with many partners.
Nothing there is available gas in Nigeria, Kuruvilla said: “We just have to have filling stations, which I’m sure in the next couple of months, and by the time these vehicles are on the road, we will have many filling stations in the country.”
Earlier, the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas campaign initiative which kicked off in Lagos attracted representatives from the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Nigerian Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Tricyclists popularly known as ‘Keke Napepe’ among others from across the Southwest including Ogun, Ekiti, Osun, Oyo states, gathered in their numbers to take advantage of the initiative
Kuruvilla said aside the intervention that the government is doing through the Dana Motors, that the company was planning to have CNG-ready vehicles, new vehicles that will be CNG retrofitted adding that Dana Motors is also the importers of Kia vehicles.
“So any Kia vehicle which is coming in, we can offer them as CNG vehicles also. The PiCNG is for converting existing vehicles, so we are also going to have new vehicles also with CNG. We’re getting CNG buses; we’re already supplying CNG buses for many states, in the MDS, so that also is there. “We’re also doing new vehicles with CNG,” he added.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, AUTOGIG International Resources Limited, Tope Bukola Ojo appealed to the commercial drivers to show up and convert their vehicles. This, he said, would benefit everyone who will be using them adding it’s not a one-off event nonetheless it’s going to be a continuous process.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer who admitted that this initiative of Mr. President would really speak to access for mobility and also the sustainable development goals said as a friend of the enterprise, the company strongly believes that access to mobility is key to eradicating poverty and that energy diversification in the transportation sector is also key to eradicating poverty.
“Be it education, be it poverty, be it health, and be it whatever, what we have now is a mass appeal to Nigerians in the commercial transportation sector to show up and convert so that they can have access to cheaper fuel”, and when this is done, it reduces the cost of mobility and transportation, he said.
“When that happens, you put more cash in people’s pockets, somebody who is spending N30,000 to go to work, when the cost of transportation comes down, he now spends, say, N10,000. So that means he has additional N20, 000 to whatever his wage is. So above the minimum wage, this puts extra money.
And for those who are operating public transportation, they charge less money, they make more money, so they also have extra money. So by that, you are eliminating poverty, you are improving livelihood, and at the same time, you are making people have access to infrastructure and government services.
They can now go to hospital without spending much, they can go to schools without spending much, and they can go to the market without spending much”, he continued.
They can even enjoy their life, go to clubs, go to lounges, and have the best kind of life they want to live.
“So it’s just to appeal to our commercial drivers, now that this initiative is coming free of charge, it’s about putting one million naira extra in their pockets, and at the same time they’re also going to be making much more money”, Ojo added.
Previously, the Commercial Operations Manager of PICNG, Omoh Omoukhuede, said as part of the Compressed Natural Gas initiative, the federal government had created the Conversion Incentive Program. This, he said was geared towards ensuring that the CNG conversion was pushed out, especially through the mass transit and commercial vehicles routes.
According to him, the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative was set up by President Bola Tinubu to create not only the platform for CNG conversion, but also to ensure that it was adopted, accepted and implemented.
