Nigerian govt, airport taxi operators sign agreement on CNG conversion

The Nigerian government on Tuesday signed an agreement with taxi operators at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, to convert vehicles to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and reduce airport transportation fares.

At the signing of the agreement in Abuja on Tuesday, the Programme Director/Chief Executive of the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (PCNGI), Michael Oluwagbemi, said there would be a 30 per cent discount on airport shuttle fare once implemented.

“The airport taxi operators have about 800 fleet of vehicles, and we have agreed that once we hit 50 per cent conversion, which is about 400 vehicles, a 30 per cent discount will be implemented immediately. There are various prices based on the distance one is travelling, so the 30 per cent will be applied accordingly based on the current prices for the areas one is going.

“A red card with prices and discounts will also be available in the vehicle based on the passenger’s destination. And to ensure compliance there will be regular monitoring for diligent delivery,” Mr Oluwagbemi said.

Mr Oluwagbemi, represented by Folarin Oworo, programme execution coordinator, PCNGI, explained that the conversion was in fulfilment of President Bola Tinubu’s promise to convert one million commercial vehicles to cushion high transportation fares due to fuel price increase.

He noted that the government had conversion partners with accredited centres to achieve the aim, noting that there were about seven refilling stations in Abuja against one being used when the programme commenced a year ago.

He expressed optimism that more stations are coming up as the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), responsible for licensing new stations has many approvals on that development.

According to him, cylinders used for CNG are practically bulletproof and cannot explode or break.

“So we implored Nigerians not to cut corners. The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has also certified the CNG cylinders the PCNGI is using. We guarantee in our conversion that an explosion cannot occur unless there is intentional tampering with it. We have different sizes of cylinders, 65 and 75 litres, to reduce the time of refilling. Going forward we will introduce various sizes and shapes to suit vehicles and loads to carry,” he said.

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Also speaking, Yunus Ismail, manager of Salma Auto CNG, a conversion centre, thanked the PCNGI for the development and expressed readiness to convert the fleet of vehicles being targeted based on the agreement.

In his remarks, Aliyu Ali, Spokesperson for Abuja air carbs operators, appreciated the PCNGI for the signing of the agreement.

Mr Ali, who thanked the government for the free-of-charge conversion service, said the operators were looking forward to seeing their vehicles converted immediately from petrol to CNG to drastically reduce airport taxi fares.

In August last year, Mr Tinubu approved the establishment of the PCNGI. The government said it intended to make sure that about a million vehicles run on CNG.