By Emmanuella Anokam

The Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (P-CNGi), has urged Nigerians to patronise only government-certified CNG conversion workshop centres across the country for safety.

P-CNGi Programme Director/Chief Executive, Mr Michael Oluwagbemi, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Abuja.

Oluwagbemi warned against patronising illegal conversion centres and locally fabricated cylinders by quacks in an attempt to convert patrol vehicles to CNG.

He advised Nigerians to visit the P-CNGi website – www.pci.gov.ng to see the list of government approved conversion centres.

NAN reports that the P-CNGi is a component of the palliative intervention of Tinubu’s administration, designed to provide succour to Nigerians suffering from the hardship created by fuel subsidy removal.

Sequel to the fuel subsidy removal and full deregulation of the petroleum products market, the price of fuel increased significantly, creating a need for alternative sources of energy such as CNG and electric vehicles.

However, Nigerians are still sceptical about its usage and have raised concerns about its security, safety and affordability of conversion kits.

Speaking on its safety, the programme director said that CNG was lighter, adding that air dissipates quickly, thereby, reducing fire risks in a contained environment.

On regulation, Oluwagbemi said that the regulatory standard was approved by Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to cover the CNG conversion industry.

He added the Nigeria Gas Vehicle Monitoring System on the other hand, regulates and monitors all gas-powered vehicles.

“Natural gas is safer than petrol and diesel and our aim is to transition Nigeria to the use of a safer, cheaper, cleaner and more reliable energy source.

“The P-CNGi has been promoting the use of CNG through various policies and initiatives since the commencement of the project in 2024.

“This also includes public awareness and enhancing adoption by Nigerians,” he said.

He said that the CNG programme began with seven centres and was able to increase the centres to 193 in 2024.

The P-CNGi boss said that there were currently about 30 conversion centres in FCT alone, while Lagos has more than 70 centres.

He said that President Bola Tinubu’s administration targets one million converted vehicles by 2027 from the current 30,000 to 50,000 CNG converted trucks and vehicles across the country.

Oluwagbemi stressed that CNG was safer than patrol, adding that there had been no incident of failure so far, except for one incident in Edo, in 2024.

He attributed the incident to the use of locally fabricated cylinders by quarks, who were injured while attempting to fill the cylinder for the first time.

“The three persons were immediately arrested and have been charged to court for economic sabotage,” he said.

Juxtaposing CNG’s incidents with petrol, the programme director pointed out the several incidents of petrol explosion recorded across the country, with high mortality rate.

He explained that methane and ethane, being the primary constituent of natural gas, were single chain linked hydrocarbons.

This, he said, contrasted with butane, propane and all linked chain hydrocarbons that constitute diesel, petrol, gasoline and LPG.

“Natural gas is lighter than air. We store it in bulletproof containers that are made of protective cylinders that are made of seamless pipe.

“This means there is no joint, unlike LPG cylinders that have welded joints.

“There are no joints, so it cannot leak. If it leaks, it escapes immediately to air. It has 1001-degree centigrade self-ignition temperature.

“So, it is 18 times less explosive than petrol, and eight times less explosive than diesel. If you are using a petrol vehicle, you are using a dangerous vehicle. You are sitting on a petrol bomb,” he warned.

The programme director further argued that the rate of fatality when a patrol vehicle exploded was nine out of 10, adding that patrol vehicles were more dangerous compared with CNG vehicles. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Philip Yatai