According to a news report from TVC News, the federal government of Nigeria has been urged to provide essential technical and administrative leadership, as well as financial incentives, to convert 20% of petrol stations in Nigeria to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) within the next six months to a year.

Mr Abdulrazaq Hamzat made this call at an ongoing CNG station in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital. Hamzat, a clean energy advocate and peacebuilding professional, emphasised the need for a more proactive and aggressive approach by the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources to drive the adoption of CNG in the country.

Speaking to members of the leading pro-democracy group, Kwara Must Change, Hamzat expressed concern over the slow execution of the federal government's CNG adoption programme, launched in August 2023, which aims to provide an alternative energy source to petrol. He highlighted that the initiative is not only slow in implementation but also insufficient to meet the country's demand.

Hamzat noted that the Ministry of Petroleum, through NNPC Limited, has partnered with NIPCO Gas Limited to establish CNG stations across Nigeria.

“Although, Nipco is present in 22 states, but it currently operates just 15 autoCNG stations, with about 19 others coming up, 4 in Lagos” he said.

Hamzat explained that, NNPC's partnership with NIPCO will develop about 56 CNG stations across Nigeria, out of which 35 will be in Lagos state alone, adding that in the same Lagos, one other CNG station was developed with capacity to fill 600 trucks and buses per day.

Hamzat maintained that, these CNG stations are too insufficient, even as pilot, to 99accommodate the volume of demand that would come, even in its first few weeks of operations.

“The survey conducted by our research team shows that their is huge expectation from the public, beyond the plans of the federal government and this will create some setback in the subsequent advocacy for CNG adoption”.

“Our research shows that one in every five Nigerians are willing to try CNG when it is available”

Hamzat therefore proposed that the federal should mandate all petrol stations to convert 20% of their facilities to CNG.

“What we would propose is for all petrol stations in the country to convert 20% of their stations to CNG in the next 6 months or 1 year for efficient coverage”.

I think we are under estimating the quest for alternative fuel in Nigeria he said, noting that there's huge expectation for CNG beyond the plans of the government.

He concludes that, having such big ambition will force the government to adjust regulatory framework, fast track stakeholders engagement, invest more in equipment, logistics and distribution network to meet the projected demands of CNG.