Energy experts have urged government to address inherent challenges as the federal government banks on intervention by the Central Bank of Nigeria to implement the National Gas Expansion Programme and National Autogas Roll-out Initiative.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, had disclosed that the government would work with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to ensure full implementation of the Auto Gas Policy.
CBN had in gas policy framework said low level of investment was hindering domestic gas consumption, adding that the would stimulate production and utilization of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) as clean alternative sources .
Sylva had said: “We are working right now with the Central Bank of Nigeria to ensure that we are able to bring in conversion kits for a critical mass of vehicles.
“And then also give soft loans at the same time to downstream operators to fix their filling stations, so that when we fit the two together, it will work.
PWC’s Habeeb Jaiyeola across the world, government interventions are being used to catalyse economic development.
“In many cases government interventions are quite critical in controlling cost of borrowing in developing sectors. The CBN intervention remains a positive tool for the development of the domestic gas sector,” he said.
However, the payback has to be enforced to ensure the fund remains available for further critical interventions, Jaiyeola noted, adding that further sensitization on the autogas initiative would be needed for its acceptability.
