The federal government has flagged off the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative PCNGI, with seven conversion centres across Nigeria.
Chief Of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajibiamila, officially flagged off the initiative yesterday at the State House, Abuja, reports Daily Trust.
In a symbolic handover of the CNG buses to the State House, the Chairman of the Presidential CNG Initiative Steering Committee, Zacch Adedeji, who was represented by the Chief Executive Officer of the Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) Mr Farouk Ahmed, announced that the government had waived the Value Added Tax on the CNG buses purchase as well as seeking duty waivers for value-chain.
Adedeji said the goal wa to build a sustainable future, leveraging Nigeria’s available cheap and clean energy source, which is gas.
He also disclosed that plans are underway for the government to establish multiple conversion centres across the Country in the next two weeks.
Adedeji, who stressed that the delivery of the CNG project demonstrated President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to both environmental sustainability and economic growth in Nigeria, implored Nigerians to consider the buses as a symbol of a new beginning.
He also stressed that the buses running on compressed natural gas are not just a technical achievement, but a symbol of President Tinubu’s administration’s commitment to spearheading an energy revolution.
Project Director of the Presidential CNG Initiative, Engr. Micheal Oluwagbemi, said state governments had already indicated investment interest in the CNG buses, adding that Rivers State Government has already acquired a good number to ease the transportation challenges of the state.
Speaking on the cost of conversion, Oluwagbemi revealed that the current cost of conversion varies from the model and type of vehicle, he added that the President has ensured that as part of PCNGI, the committee will incentivize the cost for the Nigerian populace.
The Project coordinator assured that Nigerians will be able to achieve conversion at a lower cost.
Managing Director of OMAA Motors, managing partner of PCNGI, Chinedu Oguegbu lauded the patronage of made-in-Nigeria vehicles by the federal government, saying that it is a way of deepening industrialization.
