The Federal Government, on Thursday, declared that the conversion of petrol and diesel-powered commercial vehicles to run on Compressed Natural Gas is going to be free of charge.
It declared this in Abuja after signing agreements with various companies involved in the conversion of petrol and diesel-powered vehicles to operate on CNG.
It said commercial transporters under their different unions including the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, National Union of Road Transport Workers, and Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners, among others, would benefit from this.
The Programme Director/Chief Executive, Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative, Michael Oluwagbemi, disclosed this to journalists after the government agency signed agreements with various companies in Abuja.
He said, “Today we’ve just signed with five partners with us here in the Federal Capital Territory that are participating in the Conversion Incentive Programme.
“The programme is tackling the barrier to Nigerian commercial transport operators to convert from PMS (petrol) to gas. Most of them have said that the cost of conversion is expensive, and so what we are doing here today is basically to respond to that concern.
“What is the government doing about it? First and foremost, for commercial operators that are unionised, I’m talking about the members of RTEAN, NARTO, and NURTW, through their unions they can benefit 100 per cent discount. That is, they will get the kits for free and installation will also be done for them for free.
“And this is going to be done through these certified conversion workshops that we are beginning to identify. We’ve identified about 123 of them, five of them are here with us today that we are going to be working with here in Abuja. As we expand across the country we will be activating more of them,” Oluwagbemi stated.