By Sebastine Obasi

Motorists have urged the federal government to facilitate the use of compressed natural gas, CNG, in the country so as to curtail pollution, as well as reduce the dependence on petrol.

Speaking to Vanguard, a motorist, Osifo Ifeanyichukwu said that CNG is cheaper and environment – friendly. He said, “I have five cars already converted to CNG in Benin, Edo State. I run taxi and mini buses in the city. Since the conversion, I usually spend about N2,800 on gas for journeys that could have gulped petrol worth N5,000. I have also come to realize that maintenance of gas driven cars is cheaper than vehicles that use petrol.”

He however said that motorists are challenged in the swapping of conversion kits which he said should be made very low to enable them switch their kits to another vehicle, while appealing to government to create a more pocket friendly price for gas in view of the numerous associated benefits with CNG.

Also speaking, Erhunmwnsee Paul, who said he has his three cars converted to CNG urged the government to make gas available to the users so as to encourage more vehicles to use gas. According to him, focus should be placed on low tariff on kits, as well as massive awareness campaign to enable Nigerians benefit from the use of gas.

It will be recalled that the Green Gas limited (GGL), a joint venture company of the Nigerian Gas Company (NGC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), in partnership with Nipco Plc, was launched to buttress why cars should run on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG). The scheme is such that motorists, whose cars run on CNG, would save on fossil fuels, such as petrol and diesel.

According to CNG’s General Manager, Natural Gas, Anirudh Narula, while evaluating the growing benefits of CNG powered-vehicles said vehicles running on CNG tend to move around at relatively cheaper rate in gas consumption than they could with petrol of equivalent litre content. While giving an illustration of a journey from Lagos-Benin City covering 320km, he said the cost of travel on petrol is N6, 208, while that of CNG is N2,933, creating a saving of N3,275. Other key benefits of CNG include: Very economical as gas is cheaper than petrol, Cleaner – providing less carbon emissions, Secure – as it’s locally sourced, Safety – it’s a clean energy source so there are no toxins.