OpeOluwani Akintayo
Lagos — The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, has disclosed that conversion of vehicles and generating sets to gas-fuelling will begin in October.
The minister, who spoke on
NTA’s “Good Morning Nigeria” on Monday, said the move is a follow-up to his promise upon appointment, to provide cheaper, cleaner and affordable alternative fuel.
According to him, the federal government will convert vehicles and generating sets free of charge for Nigerians.
He said: “The alternative we are now introducing is gas, which is definitely going to be cheaper than the subsidised rate of PMS. So, what we are trying to encourage Nigerians to do now is to convert their cars to dual fuel”.
“That means your car can use either gas or petrol and that will be done for free because the government is going to ensure that you are able to convert your vehicles for free”.
He added: “And when you convert your car for free, you go to the filling station, you see the price of PMS (Premium Motor Spirit), you see the price of gas, you can decide to buy LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) or CNG (Compressed Natural Gas), you can decide to buy LNG (Liquefied Natural gas). These are all going to be available and we are going to have a roll out plan for this within October”.
“Nigerians will have alternatives. It is like introducing a toll on the roads. When you introduce a tollgate, you are expected and required by law to also create an alternative. So, we are also creating that alternative so that you can go to buy gas”.
The minister, in a recent internal memo to civil servants, directed that their official cars be converted to gas-fuelling ones as against petrol as a way of encouraging more use of gas in-country, adding that CNG will sell for about N97 per litre once the initiative is flagged off.
