Mr Rajesh Prabhu, a General Manager in NIPCO Plc., has urged the Federal Government to formulate policy that would ensure that official vehicles run on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to save cost.
Prabhu gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos against the backdrop on ways government could save money for the country.
According to him, there is urgent need for government to promote the use of CNG in the country to reduce cost of importing petrol at huge foreign exchange rate.
“The essence is to provide alternative to diesel and petrol at a reduced cost to boost national socio-economic growth.
“Government should formulate policy that would promote use of CNG as a vehicular fuel to all government official vehicles including the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to save cost,’’ he said.
The General Manager said that the project would have saved government over two billion dollars yearly, if the use of CNG had been promoted.
He said that globally, the natural gas industry was increasing its focus and efforts to support natural gas transport.
Prabhu explained that the initiative, which was the first of its kind in West Africa, was ushering in a new era of vehicles running on the CNG with its attendant benefits.
He said that CNG “is a superior auto fuel alternation to liquid fuels, mainly petrol and diesel specifically for countries like Nigeria which is blessed with abundant natural gas that remains untapped.’’
Prabhu said that NIPCO CNG project which commenced in 2009 had recorded over 5,000 vehicles converted to CNG.
Prabhu said that one of the ways government could promote CNG utilisation was to ensure imported vehicles into the country are made to use gas.
According to him, to replace 20 per cent of current petrol consumption, Natural gas requirement is less than 5 per cent of the total domestic gas consumed currently and less than one per cent of the current gas production.
“This will save the country over four billion dollars yearly in foreign exchange.
“In Edo State, over 5,000 vehicles run on CNG which resulted in replacing 20 million litres of petrol from 2012 to 2015.
“It also saved over nine million dollars for the country,’’ NAN quoted Prabhu as saying.
He said that CNG had more benefits than petrol, adding that some of the benefit included low operating costs and lower maintenance costs.
According to him, it also reduces harmful vehicle emissions which cause air pollution.
He said that on mile to mile basis, CNG would be cheaper than petrol by over 50 per cent and as compared to Diesel (on dual fuel mode), stressing that it would be over 45 per cent cheaper.
Meanwhile, some motorists plying Lagos-Ibadan Expressway who spoke to NAN described CNG powered vehicles as economical, safer, flexible and eco-friendly.
A commercial motorist, Mr Adewuyi Adekola , said that the conversion of his vehicle to CNG in early 2015, had saved him money.
“I converted my bus to gas early this year and I am happy to tell you that I saved up to N3, 500 daily on my fuel consumption.
“Before now I spent N6, 000 to travel to Ibadan from Lagos, but now with just N2, 500, I will travel to Ibadan and come back with ease.
Another commercial vehicle operator, Mr Sunday Adeyemi, said that most of the commercial vehicles operating between Lagos and Ibadan had converted to CNG because of its availability.
“Most of us here have converted our vehicles to CNG because of the payment structure created by the company.
“They are aware that we cannot run away once you got converted.
“What we would have used on petroleum is being used to balance our debt. By next month, I would have completed my debt,” he said.
Adeyemi said that he had used the opportunity of having CNG in his vehicle during the period of petrol scarcity to make more money.
“When others do not have petrol for business during the fuel scarcity, I was busy making money because gas was available and cheaper,’’ he said.
