Nigeria has recorded about 160 operational Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) refuelling stations throughout the nation, with one other 170 services at numerous levels of improvement and licensing, as the federal authorities intensifies efforts to broaden entry to cheaper different gas.
The Executive Chairman of the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (PCNGI), Ismaeel Ahmed, disclosed this on Friday in the course of the commissioning of a CNG Integrated Refuelling Unit (IRU) station alongside New Karu Road, Saint George Akume Way, Karu, Abuja.
Mr Ahmed mentioned the initiative had attracted roughly $2.6 billion in private-sector investments in lower than two years, describing the rising investor curiosity as proof that the market had moved past the proof-of-concept stage.
“This is almost our 106th station across the country in less than two years. This is not beginning any longer. The market has been proven, and investors are trooping in,” he mentioned.
He mentioned the extra stations had been present process improvement or awaiting numerous approvals and licences from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
According to him, President Bola Tinubu has additionally directed one other spherical of infrastructure deployment, together with 1,500 items in February and an extra 500 in August, that are anticipated to come back on stream between this yr and early subsequent yr.
Mr Ahmed mentioned the growth was essential to speed up the adoption of CNG in a rustic with greater than 220 million folks and roughly 12 million automobiles.
He argued that Nigeria wanted to maneuver quicker in growing different gas infrastructure to satisfy the nation’s transportation and power calls for.
“It took Nigeria about 60 years to build approximately 24,000 conventional petrol stations, most of which are privately owned. We are seeing a much faster adoption of CNG and electric vehicles, and the scale of interest is encouraging,” he mentioned.
CNG reduces transportation prices
The PCNGI chairman argued that the adoption of CNG-powered automobiles had lowered transportation fares by between 30 and 40 per cent on some routes the place the buses had been already working.
He cited Abuja, Lagos and Kano, as effectively as inter-state routes between Kano and Katsina, as areas the place passengers had been benefiting from decrease transportation prices.
According to him, passengers who beforehand paid between N3,000 and N4,000 on some routes now pay about N1,500 when travelling in CNG-powered buses.
He mentioned the initiative was designed to increase the advantages to all native authorities areas, significantly these with excessive concentrations of business automobiles and passenger visitors.
However, acknowledging that the prevailing fleet remained inadequate to satisfy demand, Mr Ahmed mentioned the federal government was working to deploy extra buses and broaden entry to the choice gas.
Asked how the federal government arrived on the reported 30–40 per cent discount in transportation fares, he mentioned the figures had been based mostly on comparisons between fares charged by operators earlier than and after the introduction of CNG-powered buses on chosen routes.
He defined that the initiative obtained info from transport operators about earlier fares and in contrast them with the fares charged after the adoption of CNG.
State House leads by instance
Also talking on the commissioning ceremony , the Permanent Secretary, State House, Temitope Fashedemi, mentioned the power demonstrated the federal authorities’s dedication to selling CNG as a less expensive different to petrol following the removing of the petrol subsidy.
Mr Fashedemi mentioned President Tinubu’s administration had launched CNG as a part of efforts to cushion the influence of subsidy removing on Nigerians, significantly within the transportation and power sectors.
He mentioned Nigeria’s plentiful pure gasoline sources, which had traditionally been underutilised and flared, offered a possibility to supply cheaper power alternate options for households and companies.
According to him, the State House determined to display the viability of the initiative by rehabilitating an deserted gas depot inside its premises and changing it right into a CNG refuelling facility.
He defined that the federal government partnered with the PCNGI and chosen Rolling Energy Limited as the private-sector operator to rehabilitate and improve the power.
Mr Fashedemi mentioned the State House offered the prevailing infrastructure and site, whereas the private-sector companion financed the rehabilitation and upgrading of the power.
“The State House did not spend public funds on the facility. We provided the infrastructure and made the location available, while the private-sector partner invested in rehabilitating and upgrading it,” he mentioned.
He added that the power additionally housed a automobile conversion centre the place motorists might convert eligible automobiles to run on CNG.
The everlasting secretary disclosed that the State House had acquired some hybrid automobiles, whereas some buses working inside the Villa premises additionally run on different power.
He mentioned some State House staff would additionally convey their automobiles for conversion within the coming weeks, topic to technical assessments to find out their suitability.
Mr Fashedemi mentioned the initiative was meant to display that the federal government was prepared to guide by instance quite than merely advocate the adoption of different fuels.
He urged personal buyers to benefit from the alternatives within the CNG market, noting that authorities assist by way of infrastructure partnerships might speed up the growth of refuelling services.
Private sector partnership
Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of Rolling Energy Limited, Mubarak Danbatta, described the undertaking as an instance of the advantages of collaboration between authorities and personal buyers.
Mr Danbatta recommended the State House for making the deserted facility obtainable for redevelopment, saying the partnership demonstrated how the federal government might facilitate personal funding by offering entry to current infrastructure.
“What you are seeing here is the power of partnership. When private entities and governments come together, this is the result,” he mentioned.
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He defined that the power, recognized as an Integrated Refuelling Unit, mixed the dispenser and compressor in a single system, with double-nozzle dispensers that permit automobiles to refuel from each side.
According to him, the station has the capability to serve roughly 150 automobiles every day, relying on cylinder dimension and strain.
Its automobile conversion centre can be projected to transform about 12 automobiles every day.
The rising funding in CNG infrastructure comes as Nigeria seeks to diversify its power combine and scale back dependence on petrol, significantly following the removing of gas subsidies in May 2023.
The Tinubu-led administration has repeatedly argued that the adoption of the CNG know-how is a part of the broader effort to cut back excessive price of dwelling pressures on Nigerians as a consequence of among the ongoing reforms initiated by the federal government.
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