The Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology (NITT), Zaria has offered to work with the National Gas Expansion Programme Committee to accelerate the process of converting all fossil fuel-driven vehicles to use either Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) or the Liquefied Premium gas (LNG).
The Director General of NITT, Dr Bayero Salih-Farah, disclosed this when the Minister of Transportation, Mua’zu Jaji Sambo, visited the institute.
He said the conversion, when completed, will permanently end the fuel subsidy regime.
“The institute is complementing the effort of the present administration in exiting the patrol subsidy regime through the provision of alternative energy sources to the transportation sector,” he said.
“The institute is currently in talks with the National Gas Expansion Programme Committee to provide the technical manpower that will engineer the process of converting all fossil fuel-driven vehicles to use either Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) or liquefied Premium gas (LNG),” he further stated.
“Furthermore, the Institute is planning to champion the process of conversion and production of the conversion kits in the very near future. The institute has compliments of equipment and facilities to achieve this,” the DG assured.
Dr Salih-Farah also indicated that the institute is building an intelligent data system for the transport sector.
“To fulfill this mandate, the institute is building an Intelligent Transport System (ITS) centre to be equipped with state-of-the-art equipment.
“At the moment, the databank project has commenced with the installation of equipment in some major highways namely; Abuja-Lokoja, Lagos-Ibadan and Kaduna-Zaria,” he stated.
He said the traffic data generated from the equipment would be transmitted real-time to the data centre in Zaria.
Historical data from transport organizations are also being collated and inputted into the database system in the institute, he said.
On challenges, he said the institute is faced with budgetary constraints and the need to strengthen its legal instruments in order to keep pace with the current realities in the industry and play the leading role in driving research, training and technology innovation in the industry.
“In view of the enormous tasks before the institute and in order to fully deliver our mandate to the transport sector and the Nigerian economy at large, we are appealing to the minister to kindly assist the institute with an alternative and more reliable source of funding,” he said.
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