Federal Government has donated one hundred Compressed Natural Gas CNG Conversion Kits to National Union of Road Transport Workers in Kaduna State for distribution to their members with a view to convert their commercial vehicles to CNG to reduce cost of transportation.
The Programme Execution Coordinator of the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative, Mr Folanri Oworu handed over the kits to the leadership of the union during a park rally in Kaduna.
Mr Oworu explained that, all the 36 States in the country would be covered on the used of conversion of vehicles from using petrol to compressed natural gas before the end of this year.
According to him, the Presidential CNG initiative, P- CNGi was a key component of President Bola Tinubu’s administration’s palliative measures aimed at mitigating the effects of fuel subsidy removal policy on the masses.
“The initiative seek to provide relief to Nigerians by promoting the use of compressed natural gas (CNG) as a cleaner and more affordable alternative to fuel”.
Mr. Oworu pointed out that, the targets in the conversion are commercial vehicles across the country with Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with key stakeholders in the transport unions and companies that would handle the conversion process.
“The kick off in Kaduna was done with 100 conversion kits, adding that the next point of the rally would be Lagos, believing that before the year runs, the 36 States must have been covered.
“We have kits for four-cylinder vehicles. We have kits for six-cylinder vehicles, we have kits for eight- cylinder vehicles. We have different capacity for the CNG storage. We have 60 liters, 65 liters, 75 liters. So it depends on the concentration of these kits.
“Mr. President has decided to make conversion free for the road transport unions, the NURTW, NATO and other road transport unions.
“The idea is to bring down the cost of commercial transportation. How do we do that? It is by converting the commercial vehicles of transport unions to make their running cost cheaper, the idea is for them to translate this savings up to the end users by making transportation cheaper. So that is what we are doing here.
“Here in Kaduna we are giving out 100 conversion kits, this is not the end of it. The plan is that we will be back again before the 100 runs out.
“The same with other States around the country. So we are targeting close 250,000 conversion of vehicles per year, starting from next year”, He explained.
In his goodwill message, former National, the World Vice Chairman, International Transport Federation, Alhaji Najeem Usman Yasin commended President Bola Tinubu’s initiative on the P-CNGi agenda, aimed at converting commercial vehicles to use compressed natural gas (CNG).
Alhaji Yasin commended the President’s support for the transport sector and the decision to provide conversion kits free of charge to commercial vehicles.
He encouraged members of NURTW, NATO, and other road users to key into the program to reduce the suffering of the masses by decreasing transportation costs and fuel prices.
According to him, the program was set to roll out across all 36 states in the country.
“I called on entire transport organizations- NURTWN, NATO…etc across the country to key into the programme. They have signed the agreement with the company for the conversion here in our present. We have got the numbers of vehicles that as from today can move to the conversion centres so that this vehicles can be converted one by one.
“We know how much a liter of fuel is now sold and if you fill your tank for N50,000, N45,000, it depends on the number of liters your vehicle is consuming. Before you go from Kaduna to Abuja, that fuel is gone. Automatically, it will affect the transport fare.
“When we start operating this P-CNGi, I think the cost of the price of fuel will come down and it will certainly affect the transportation system in the country. That’s the aim of the P-CNGi”.
In a remark, the National President, National Union of Road Transport Workers, Alhaji Aliyu Ore noted that, each of the conversion kits is worth one point five million naira depending on the type of kits person have.
Report by AMINU DALHATU
