Feyisayo Oyebanji, Abuja
The Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative PCNGI has refuted reports of infrastructure gap in the sector, stressing instead that the CNG is thriving with investments expanding.
The Chief Executive of the PCNGi, Engr Michael Oluwagbemi said from May 2024, it set out to implement its mandate in line with the directive and vision of President Bola Tinubu, which was to: 1. Incentive the adoption of CNG and EV vehicles to ensure sustainable transportation for all Nigerians 2. Facilitate investments into the alternative energy sector for transportation and 3. Coordinate regulation of the emerging sector for rapid growth.
He said although misinformation and fake news on CNG dominated the media space, just one year on, the Initiative has over 50,000 vehicle count rising to 100,000 therefore the queues at CNG stations are naturally going to rise, because of the unprecedented increase from 4000 in vehicle count as a result of massive incentive provided by the administration and the breakthrough in awareness due to the economic benefits of the switch.
Stressing that Nigerians love CNG and that the program is working, Engineer Oluwagbemi said just last week, two new daughter stations in Abuja were commissioned with AY Shafa and Femadec investing in these ventures. The PCNGi said both entities have 9 and 21 daughter stations respectively in the works in the next one year.
The PCNGi CEO said “for Femadec, the dual benefit of leading the charge of building CNG ecosystem in 20 universities is an icing on the cake. This week, Yola is stepping up with Greenville investing, in its intensive roll out of LCNG stations in 51 locations across the North and South East as well as hard to reach places” and that over 175 stations are being rolled out nationwide by various partners.
Refueling on-lending
He said in addition to Greenville and Femadec, the PCNGI is backing partners to roll out 24 sites in the next 6 to 9 months, with one site already activated in Ilorin. Port Harcourt, Ado Ekiti, Lokoja, Abuja, Aba and Enugu will all go live within the next 60 to 120 days to dispense CNG, to scale the refueling on-lending initiative heralded with the first launch in Ilorin last year that have already transformed that local economy.
He further said: “additional 8 stations to its current stock of 12 are being finished as we speak and another 40 of 100 in Phase 2 of her roll out plan is being finalised. Bovas is launching two sites in Ibadan any moment from now from its eight station roll out of ultra modern CNG stations and ecosystem. NIPCO’s 8 stations in addition to 23 already live across the country will be completed within 6 months.
Oluwagbemi said just last week, the Midstream Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund MDGIF, a veritable partner in the process, awarded ten new entries equity investments to develop their various gas projects and that three of them were focused on developing CNG stations- this is in addition to 4 of the 6 of initial 123 billion naira investments made last year by MDGIF being directed at the sub-sector.
The PCNGi CEO said in one year, the CNG sector has attracted over $500 million in investments and created over 10,000 direct jobs, 255 new conversion centers that didn’t exist last year and 53 daughter stations exist today as a result of some of those investments.
He reiterated that Nigeria is making progress with respect to CNG infrastructure but pleaded for patience with skeptics as engineering feats take time. He implored them to focus on the positive stories of empowerment and enablement instead of driving negative narratives to stand in the way of progress.
Engineer Michael Oluwagbemi said atthe Presidential CNG Initiative, we remain committed to our mandate while working hard across the value chain to deliver the goodies Mr. President has promised to all Nigerians. Rome was not built in a day, and CNG will take more than few days.
Lateefah Ibrahim