From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (PCNGI) said has secured N760.64 billion in private investments and generated 84,000 direct and indirect jobs over the past year.
Project Director, Michael Oluwagbemi, made this disclosure yesterday while briefing State House Correspondents during the fifth edition of Meet the Press, organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.
He attributed this to a robust stakeholders’ engagement and public awareness campaign conducted between May and November 2024
“We have attracted over $491 million of investments in the past year to AutoNG and we are very proud of it. This has created over 9,000 direct and 75,000 indirect jobs.
“After an intensive stakeholders’ engagement and public awareness campaign from May to November 2024, the PCNGI’s most important achievement was to convince the private sector to invest critical funds alongside the government’s investments upon stimulation of demand by commercial vehicle operators and private vehicle users alike.”
He noted that Nigeria’s ability to convert vehicles from solely petrol or diesel to bi-fuel systems has increased by 3,000 percent, with the number of conversion centres growing from just seven to over 200 nationwide.
He announced that the PCNGI team was set to achieve 10,000 vehicle conversions by the end of the first quarter of 2025. He further revealed that 405 buses have been deployed as part of agreements with the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress during wage negotiations.
He emphasised the current shortfall in CNG availability but assured that the newly introduced Refuelling On-Lending Programme would tackle this issue by offering equipment at cost to key conversion centres and refuelling partners.
Oluwagbemi added that by June 2025, leveraging the last-mile gas infrastructure strategy, the PCNGI team plans to expand CNG coverage from five states to 17.
According to him, “Twenty five sites are billed to benefit and 15 states are slated for this. Already, the first site in Kwara State is live and Kogi, Ekiti Rivers and Abuja, will soon join them before May 1, 2025. By June 12, we shall have Kaduna, Abia and Enugu joining the fray with Niger, Kano and Benue following shortly thereafter.
“To further bolster this base infrastructure, we have co-opted our private sector partners to deploy over 150 new refuelling locations in the next 18months. The NNPC has already deployed 12 sites, with eight to go this quarter, and the approval for additional 100 sought and secured for the next 18 to 24 months.
“We are aware that as a result of our successful awareness campaign last year and ground breaking initiatives, like CIP that pay the private sector to convert vehicles to CNG, there has been a visible gap in CNG availability at the last Mile Gas Infrastructure Scheme, we note the longer queues in some localities but assure this is temporary.
The PCNGI Programme Director further hinted that plans were underway to launch the Nigerian gas vehicle monitoring system (NGVMS), to ensure only properly converted vehicles were refuelled at gas stations and operate on Nigerian roads.
On institutional capacity and public skepticism regarding safety, Oluwagbemi noted that the PCNGI had addressed these concerns by partnering with the Ministry of Petroleum Gas to establish comprehensive monitoring of CNG and all gas vehicles.
He emphasised ongoing collaborative efforts with key agencies, including the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority and the Federal Road Safety Commission. He added that the initiative would, in the next 60 days, become active.
He assured that with the Nigerian gas vehicle monitoring system in place, incidents of engaging in illegal fabrication of CNG cylinders would be totally avoided.
“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 NGMS in place, that incident will be avoided as only properly labelled and accredited vehicles with certified tanks will be refuelled. The necessary steps to launch NGMS are ongoing. We expect it to be in place by the end of the year,” he added.