Despite skepticism associated with the Compressed Natural Gas policy, the Federal Government has put the level of investment attracted to the sector at over $491million within the last one year.
This was disclosed by the Programme Director/CEO of the Presidential CNG Initiative, Engr. Michael Oluwagbemi, while interacting with State House Reporters on Monday.
According to Oluwagbemi, the initiative though trickling down at a gradual level has created opportunities for over 9,000 direct and 75,000 indirect jobs.
“Nigeria’s conversion capacity of vehicles from pure petrol and diesel to Bifuel vehicles was raised by almost 3.000 percent with more than 200 new conversion centers established, from just mere seven that existed in Nigeria when the program started, by the private sector – while directly employing over 3,000 new technicians occasioned by the launch of the Conversion Incentive Program,” he noted.
He linked some of the recent negative occurrence involving CNG vehicles especially in Benin, Edo State to the activities of saboteurs who were trying to cut corners to fabricate the CNG tanks.
He said: “We recognize the initial safety skepticism of the public and we have responded to it by collaborating with the Federal Ministry of Petroleum (Gas) to develop an end to end monitoring of not just CNG but all gas vehicles through a collaborative initiative of the four principal regulators in the sector: SON, NADDC, NMDPRA and FRSC.
“Together we are launching the Nigeria Gas Vehicle Monitoring System (NGVMS) that will ensure only properly converted or inspected (in case of OEM vehicles) are refueled at gas stations and operate on our roads enforced by NMDPRA and FRSC respectively.
“At this point let me be clear, that the sole safety incident that occurred in Benin last year was a result of economic saboteurs engaged in illegal fabrication of CNG cylinders and were arrested by the police.
“With NGVMS in place that incident will be avoided as only properly labelled and accredited vehicles with certified tanks will be refueled. The necessary steps to launch NGVMS are ongoing, and we expect it to be in place by year end.
“We won’t relent in ensuring the safety of lives and investments of participants in the sector, this was why we prioritized regulatory standards issuance from the get go in March 2024 and continue to work with these agencies especially SON & NADDC.
“We enjoin all participants to ensure full compliance with regulatory requirements on safety and security.”
