Dozens of commercial drivers in Lagos have trooped to various conversion centres across the state to change their vehicles from petroleum-powered to compressed natural gas (CNG)-powered engine.
This followed the distribution of kits to states by the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (PCNGi).
The committee is targeting over 10,000 conversions across the country in the first phase of the exercise aimed at mitigating the impact of the fuel price hike on Nigerians.
Daily Trust reports that following the distribution of kits, motorists had been advised to visit various conversion centres to have their vehicles converted free of charge.
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In Lagos, motorists stormed six conversion centres across the state to convert their vehicles.
They included commercial taxi and bus drivers who are members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW).
At one of the centres visited by our correspondent, Portland Conversion Centre at Ojota along Ikorodu road, no fewer than 30 vehicles were on the ground waiting to be converted.
Speaking to our correspondent, a driver and member of the NURTW at Mile 12 branch, Ayodele Jeleel, said he was convinced to bring his vehicle to the centre because some drivers had carried out the conversion and it was found to be cheaper compared to running on petrol.
“One of the drivers who did it said instead of buying petrol of N40,000 to N45,000 per day, he spent as slow as N5000 to N6000 for gas,” he said.
Jeleel promised to reduce the transport fare after converting his vehicle to CNG.
Another commercial bus driver, Alhaji Saliu Umar said, “I came to change my bus to CNG because the price of petrol is too high and it is giving us very tough time. When we learnt that CNG is very cheap, we had to come to change it so that we can also reduce the cost of the transportation for the masses.”
A technician at the facility explained that it takes about four hours with the full complement of three engineers and one electrician to carry out a vehicle conversion to biofuel.
Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Portland Gas Limited, Michelle Ejiofor said, “CNG is a cleaner energy. Retrofitting your vehicle actually gives you better emissions and it reduces the cost of transportation.
“So if we have a lot of mass transit vehicles being retrofitted with the CNG, it means that it will lower the cost of food, cost of transportation and then Nigerians get to smile, actually.”
She confirmed that the centre had received 50 kits to convert 50 commercial vehicles into CNG, adding that 50 vehicles would be converted free of charge on a first come, first served basis.
Ejiofor explained that the vehicles would be inspected and diagnosed, adding that any vehicle that passes the diagnosis would be keyed into the system for conversion.
“Currently we have over 30 vehicles on the ground. We have a mark of 50, once we hit 50, then we have to close,” she said.
Commercial Operations Manager at PCNGi, Omoh Imoukhuede in a chat with our correspondent reiterated that the CNG programme had come to stay.
He said, “As part of our initiative, we have created the conversion incentive programme geared towards ensuring that the CNG conversion is pushed out, especially through the mass transit and commercial vehicles route to kickstart.
“To activate this, we have started off deploying 10,000 kits. We will start that over the next couple of weeks. We’ve actually kick started that today with a thousand kits going out to different locations in Ogun, Onyo, Kaduna, Abuja and of course, Lagos. We’re here at the Portland Ojota Conversion Centre as part of the first conversion incentive programme with regards to PCNGI. It means that CNG is here to stay.”
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