NIGERIA – Nigeria’s Federal Government has began the process of shifting the primary energy for cars in the country from premium motor spirit and diesel to Liquefied Petroleum Gas, Compressed Natural Gas and Liquefied Natural Gas.
According to a report by Punch Nigeria the dispensing of autogas into automobiles through selected filling stations across the country will commence by the end of September.
Documents obtained from the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources revealed that the Committee on National Gas Expansion Programme had been assigned to ensure the effective implementation and take off of this initiative.
The NGEP was inaugurated in January this year by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva, in furtherance of the domestic gas expansion programme of the Federal Government.
Officials of the ministry confided to Punch Nigeria that plans to collocate autogas dispensing facilities at select filling stations across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory had reached advanced stages.
This will help NGEP promote gas as replacement fuel that is cleaner, affordable and environmental freindly.
Transition to autogas would also save the nation the much-needed foreign exchange expended on imported fuels by providing alternatives to petrol, diesel and kerosene.
Under the new arrangement, retail outlets will offer a full complement of gas products as transportation fuels in addition to existing white products as cheaper cleaner and more environmentally friendly alternatives.
Documents from the ministry of petroleum indicated that the NNPC and mega retail outlets owners and equipment providers are fully onboard in this objective.
They further revealed that measures have been put in place to achieve a roll out of this programme by end of September 2020 using select NNPC owned outlets as pilots.”
Earlier this month, Federal Government had ordered the chief executive officers and their lieutenants in agencies under the petroleum ministry to convert all their official vehicles to run on autogas.
Nigeria’s minister of Petroleum, Mr. Sylva, who gave the directive has already submitted all his vehicles to be converted to run on gas, as opposed to petrol.
The minister said the conversion of vehicles in his ministry and agencies to run on autogas was to demonstrate to Nigerians that the government was serious with its declaration of 2020 as “the year of gas”.
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