Chairman of the National Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP), Dr. Mohammed Ibrahim, says full implementation of the autogas scheme by the federal government will lead to Nigeria’s economic growth as well as technology development.
Dr. Mohammed Ibrahim who stated this in a presentation titled, ‘Fuel Subsidy Removal: Autogas/ Electric Vehicles As Alternatives’ at the Annual Training Workshop of the Nigeria Auto Journalists Association (NAJA) in Lagos at the weekend, said the scheme will create over 17 million jobs in the country.
Dr. Ibrahim said the increasing gas utilisation will save the government foreign exchange and ease pressure on the country’s currency.
“Substituting traditional fossil fuels with gas will save trillions in subsidy bills that can be used in developing critical infrastructure in the country.”
According to him, autogas is the immediately available clean alternative fuel, saying, “Indeed Autogas or the use of Gas (LPG/CNG/LNG) as a fuel for the mobility sector is the immediately available alternative to the conventional white products.
Ibrahim disclosed that car manufacturers are switching to direct injection engines that produce substantially lower emissions, adding, “In fact, 8 of the 10 largest car manufacturers produce LPG cars. With the steady increase in the use of autogas, the question would be, how sustainable are the world reserves to meet demand?
According to him, Nigeria is endowed with vast natural gas reserves, and that the NGEP is conceived and designed to serve as a catalyst for adding value to the reserves.
His words, “Autogas is the only fuel that can act as a bridge between our existing oil habits and a cleaner, less oil intensive future.
NGEP, he said, shall deliver all its strategic objectives through optimal performance of all the project schemes of the programmes, adding “The precarious and daunting situation currently experienced in the downstream petroleum sector is a bitter reality that requires the urgent attention of all us present in this hall and the only alternative in the short, middle and long term is gas.
On how Nigeria compares in terms of readiness to deploy CNG for automotive applications, he said there are some enablers required from the government that include adequate regulation.
“The establishment and enforcement of sound guidelines, codes and standards, as well as the use of legislative, regulatory and/or judicial mandates to help deepen penetration of NGVs; Fis- cal: Fuel
price differentials and credit lines, as well as custom duty and tax exemptions.
“Also, tax incentives to corporations to invest in the CNG programme; Widened price advantage by removal of PMS subsidy: Subsidy on gasoline erodes the long-term economic benefit of CNG.
The National Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP) is under the ministry of Petroleum Resources.