The federal government, through the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (P-CNGi) is partnering with Bovas Group to convert vehicles of mass transit operators as well as cab-hailing services to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG).
This is in an effort to reduce the cost of transportation in the country.
Speaking during a stakeholders’ engagement workshop in Ibadan, the project director of P-CNGi, Michael Oluwagbemi noted that, the CNG initiative was part of the presidency palliative rolled out to ease the suffering of the masses caused by removal of the fuel subsidy.
On the commitment of the President Bola Tinubu towards making life more easier for the masses, he said: “The federal government under the President Tinubu-led administration was doing what they should do in terms of reducing the suffering of the masses and improve the standard of living of the people and that is what the President is committed to.
“In the coming weeks, we are going to be announcing the convention incentive program which will enable Nigerians that are currently using PMS and diesel fuel vehicles to be able to convert their vehicles at designated point just like Bovas fueling station across the country and they will be doing so at a discounted price based on certain qualification.
“This is being rolled out under the palliative program of the federal government for which the government has signed some significant sum under the 2023 supplementary budget. This is something that of concern to us and we are to make sure that Nigerians can enjoy this, especially the mass transit operators like Bolt, Ubers and others that serves the ordinary members of the public, they will be able to access these kits at affordable prices and pass all those savings to the members of the public.”
On his part, the executive director of Bovas Group, Temitope Samson, gave a detailed explanation of the roles expected from the Bovas Group as piloting partner to the federal government on CNG.
According to him, “our role is to ensure that there is CNG availability across the nation for everyone that wants to buy, and we are also to ensure that we have kits and tanks for people to use so there will be enough kits and tanks for as many as people that wants to convert their cars and to do it in a safe manner.
“We are also on ground to train other third party members and also to ensure that any place they get to they have a very good conversion done in a safe manner and they can be sure they can drive about with savings when they get the gas to buy.”