FERMA set to convert operational vehicles to CNG

The Federal Road Maintenance Agency(FERMA) says it is set to convert all its operational vehicles to run on compressed natural gas (CNG).

The agency’s Managing Director, Emeka Agbasi, disclosed this on Wednesday while signing a Memorandum of Understanding(MOU) between FERMA and the Presidential Initiative on CNG (Pi-CNG) on the conversion.

Mr Agbasi said the conversion of the agency’s operational vehicles to run on CNG is in line with the federal government’s current drive to reduce the cost of governance due to the current economic crunch

The managing director, who hosted the programme director of the presidential compressed natural gas initiative, Michael Oluwagbemi, at the signing ceremony of the memorandum of understanding between the two bodies, said the cost of premium motor spirit and diesel contributed substantially to the recurrent expenditure of the agency with its fleet of vehicles spread across the country.

According to Mr Agbasi, FERMA is the first agency out of the federal government’s ministries, departments and agencies to begin the conversion of its operational vehicles to run on CNG.

Meanwhile, the Pi-CNG says the conversion of FERMA’s vehicles will cut costs for the agency by between forty and seventy per cent.

It also said the MOU will be for the first four years and renewable for another four as the framework aims to deepen the collaboration between the two agencies.

The programme officer of the Pi-CNGi, Mr Oluwagbemi, says the initiative will convert all commercial vehicles owned by road transport unions free of charge and subsidise ride-hailing companies by fifty per cent to convert their vehicles.

According to him, the move is to drive down the cost of transportation, saying that CNG is way cheaper, cleaner, and more sustainable than fuel.

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The Pi-CNG says its goal is to convert over two million cars in collaboration with its private sector partners, who have already begun the process in various centres nationwide.

About Pi-CNG

President Bola Tinubu approved the presidential initiative on CNG in October last year to provide cheaper & cleaner fueling alternatives for Nigerians.

The initiative came on the heels of the President’s removal of fuel subsidy in May 2023, which led to an astronomical increase in the price of petrol with a huge negative impact on the economy, including an increase in the cost of transportation.