…Revs Up Northern Region’s CNG Investment Drive
The Federal Government has disclosed that about 175 new Compressed Natural Gas refilling stations will be operational in the country within the next 12 to 18 months.
The Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (PCNGI) Programme Coordinator, Michael Oluwagbemi, who made this disclosure in a video shared on the PCNGI’s X handle on Sunday, said that the new 175 stations would reduce the the current hardships being experienced by Nigerians in their efforts to access CNG.
The programme coordination expressed delight on the progress being made by the government to promote the adoption of CNG for vehicles and other facilities in the country, which increased the CNG stations from 11 in 2024 to 65 this year so far.
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He said: “There’s no doubt in my mind that we are in a much better place than we were when we kicked off this programme this time last year. When we started in January of last year, there were fewer than 11 functional CNG stations in Nigeria. Most of them lacked customers because people did not know about CNG as a potential fuel for transportation. Today, we’re in a much different place.
“We’ve used the better part of last year to kick off a very intense conversion programme after an intense awareness campaign that took us across the country. We’ve brought in stakeholders, especially the transport unions. We’ve worked with MDAs, the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian police, the Navy, and the Air Force.
“Now, the new problem is how do we ensure we get CNG to everybody as quickly as possible? So, we’ve gone from fewer than 11 refuelling stations to more than 65. In addition to that, we have about 175 of them under development. Some directly through our own direct collaboration. For example, with the Midstream Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund, we have a collaboration to ensure that over 35 new stations are developed.
“We have a collaboration with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, where NNPC is bringing in 120, of which about 12 are already commissioned; eight should be commissioned before the end of this quarter. And then, they’ve already awarded 40 out of the next phase of 90 to be commissioned in the next 12 to 18 months.
“So, there’s an ongoing collaboration across the space that will see us have an additional 175 new stations in the next 12 to 18 months. And that is good”, Oluwagbemi added.
The CNG Programme Coordinator also spoke on the efforts by the PCNGI to extend gas to the Northern part of the country as quickly as possible to ensure that the CNG benefits get to all nooks and crannies of the country.
He clarified: “The northernmost point of gas delivery today in Nigeria is Ajaokuta. So, that means that for you to move gas beyond Ajaokuta, you have two options it is either you go with CNG, which is limited to 250 to 300km from Ajaokuta, or you go with LNG, which can take you farther. The current CNG capacity can be reached, maybe to Kaduna. And that’s why today, our presence is in Kaduna in the northernmost part of it. But about a month ago, we signed a groundbreaking transaction that will see to the establishment of an LNG mini plant in Ajaokuta.
“And that will allow the sector to truck LNG, which can go way more than 250 kilometres, to 1,000 kilometres – even all the way to Accra, from Ajaokuta to the rest of Nigeria. So, that, I think, is the most consequential transaction and project that we’re doing currently to ensure that we have gas all across the north faster than we would otherwise have got it if we waited for the AKK pipeline, which, of course, is under construction but 72 per cent complete.
“So, what we’re doing now is let’s focus on how do we get that gas to Jigawa, to Katsina, Kano, Sokoto, Kebbi, Maiduguri, Yobe, Bauchi, Benue, and make sure that this gas can get there quickly in the next 18 months,” he added.
Oluwagbemi maintained that the PCNGI team was working very hard to ensure that any red tape, any regulation that is standing in the efforts to get the CNG extended to the Northern states were removed to attract investments to the country, create jobs and ensure cleaner and cheaper transportation system nationwide.
