President Bola Tinubu has directed the Presidential Initiative on Compressed Natural Gas (PiCNG) to deploy about 100,000 vehicle conversion kits nationwide as part of the Federal Government’s sustained drive to promote cheaper and cleaner transportation system in the country.
The Executive Chairman of PiCNG, Ismael Ahmed, who confirmed the directive after a closed-door meeting with the President on Tuesday at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, said Tinubu requested an update on the progress of the initiative and measures to cushion the effects of rising global petroleum prices.
According to him, the president is particularly concerned about the impact of tensions in the Middle East on fuel costs.
The PICNG chairman said: “The President wanted to know what we are doing at PiCNG to scale up the availability of gas across the country. He has given a direct mandate that we should immediately deploy about 100,000 conversion kits.”
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Ahmed said the kits would enable vehicle owners and tricycle operators to convert their engines from petrol to CNG, and that the deployment of the kits would begin within the next two to three weeks.
Noting that the CNG initiative has been accelerating infrastructure development to support gas and electric mobility in the country, he expressed optimism that the CNG “conversion centres across the country will be bustling with activities as we begin large-scale vehicle conversions.”
According to him, the government is working to expand re-fuelling stations and charging infrastructure across key transport corridors as there are about 77 CNG re-fuelling stations currently at various stages of development nationwide.
Ahmed said the infrastructure rollout would extend along major routes from Lokoja to Abuja, Kaduna and Zaria, and further to Kano and Maiduguri, adding that to meet the target, the government is partnering with local and international manufacturers to encourage assembly of electric vehicles in the country.
He further disclosed that the PICNG was also collaborating with the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) to deploy solar-powered charging stations in off-grid locations.
