Buhari to unveil autogas scheme December

Chinazor Megbolu |.The Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari will on Tuesday, December 1, 2020 unveil the National AutoGas Scheme.

The Chairman, National Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP), Dr. Mohammed Ibrahim, said this at the weekend after a meeting with stakeholders on in Lagos.

He noted that the launch is an alternative moves by the country towards maximizing its rich natural gas reserves as a means of fuel consumption.

Ibrahim, during the meeting with stakeholders, also explained that the autogas scheme and deepening domestic utilisation of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) would create about 12.5 million direct and indirect job opportunities for the citizenry.

He further buttressed that the Presidential fleet has already converted some of its fuel engines to run on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).

Ibrahim also added that the adoption of AutoGas was due to the deregulation of petrol by the federal government, which led to increment in the pump prices.

”We need about 500, 000 conversion engineers in the next 90 days to ensure that the retrofitting of the vehicles go as planned.

“Fifty conversion centres are currently upgrading for mass conversion and trainings and over 30,000 vehicles are already running on dual fuels in Nigeria.

“The 90 days training is being undertaken by the Nigerian Content Development Monitoring Board and the Petroleum Trust and Development Fund.

“These entrepreneurs will get their own foundries for manufacturing and will thereafter train others as time goes on,” Ibrahim said.