20% of all petrol stations in Nigeria should be converted to CNG within six months- Abdulrazaq Hamzat

The federal government of Nigeria has been urged to provide necessary technical and administrative leadership as well as financial incentive to convert 20% of Petrol stations in Nigeria to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) within the next six months to 1 year.

The Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources is also urged to be more proactive and aggressive in its efforts to drive the adoption of CNG in the country.

This call was made by Mr Abdulrazaq Hamzat at an ongoing CNG station in ilorin, the Kwara State capital.

Mr Hamzat, who is a clean energy advocate and a peacebuilding professional said that the CNG adoption programme of the federal government had been too slow in execution to become an alternative energy source to petrol users in a short term.

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While speaking to members of a leading Pro-Democracy group, Kwara Must Change at the ongoing CNG station in ilorin, Hamzat explained that the Federal Ministry of Petroleum launched a CNG adoption programme in August 2023, but the initiative was not only too slow in implementation, it was also too small to accommodate the volume of demand in the country.

According to Hamzat, Ministry of Petroleum, through the NNPC limited partnered NIPCO Gas Limited, to establish CNG stations in the country.

“Although, NIPCO is present in 22 states, but it operates just 15 autoCNG stations, with about 19 others coming up, 4 in Lagos” he said.

Hamzat explained that, NNPC’s partnership with NIPCO will develop about 56 CNG stations across Nigeria, out of which 35 will be in Lagos state alone, adding that in the same Lagos, one other CNG station was developed with capacity to fill 600 trucks and buses per day.

Hamzat maintained that these CNG stations were too insufficient, even as pilot, to accommodate the volume of demand that would come, even in its first few weeks of operations.

“The survey conducted by our research team shows that their is huge expectation from the public, beyond the plans of the federal government and this will create some setback in the subsequent advocacy for CNG adoption.

“Our research shows that one in every five Nigerians are willing to try CNG when it is available”

Hamzat therefore proposed that the federal government should mandate all petrol stations to convert 20% of their facilities to CNG.

“What we would propose is for all petrol stations in the country to convert 20% of their stations to CNG in the next 6 months or 1 year for efficient coverage.

“I think we are under estimating the quest for alternative fuel in Nigeria he said, noting that there’s huge expectation for CNG beyond the plans of the government.”

He said that,l having such big ambition would force the government to adjust regulatory framework, fast track stakeholders engagement, invest more in equipment, logistics and distribution network to meet the projected demands of CNG.