By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa
President Bola Tinubu has directed the immediate deployment of 100,000 Compressed Natural Gas conversion kits within the next two to three weeks to cushion the impact of rising petrol and diesel costs on Nigerians.
The Executive Chairman of the Presidential Initiative on Compressed Natural Gas, Ismaeel Ahmed, disclosed this on Tuesday after meeting with the President at the State House, Abuja.
Ahmed said the directive was informed by the ongoing war in the Middle East and its impact on global petroleum prices, which have increased transportation costs for Nigerians.
“The President, as usual, is always trying to get information on what is going on, and especially with the war in the Middle East and the rising cost of petrol and diesel.
“The President wanted to know what we are doing at the Pi-CNG and EV to scale up the availability of gas and CNG everywhere in the country so that people would have less cost of transportation,” Ahmed stated.
He revealed that Tinubu gave a direct mandate for the mass deployment of conversion kits to make natural gas more accessible as an alternative to petrol and diesel.
“So the President has given a direct mandate that we should immediately deploy about 100,000 kits.
“We are working with so many other stakeholders that would incentivise and get it into the market immediately and be able to convert a lot of vehicles and tricycles for people to be able to access gas,” the Pi-CNG boss said.
Ahmed emphasised that the deployment would commence within two to three weeks, with conversion centres expected to be “bustling with a lot of conversion activities.”
