From Our Correspondent
Abuja, April 8, ’25 (TNZ) The Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (PCNGI) says it has created 84,000 jobs with one year in operation.
TheNewsZenith reports that Mr Michael Oluwagbemi, National Coordinator of PCNGI, announced this to newsmen on Monday in Abuja.
Oluwagbemi also said the initiative has also attracted over $491 million in investments within the period.
He further revealed that the Federal Government grew the vehicle conversion centres from seven to more than 200 scattered across the country.
The coordinator recalled that President Bola Tinubu introduced the Conversion Incentive Programme (CIP) in August 2024.
This has created new employment for over 3,000 technicians.
”The CIP aimed to support one million free or subsidised conversions of certain vehicle classes, especially public transport, ride-hailing and government vehicles.
”The Ministry of Finance procured and delivered no fewer than 22,000 conversion kits to the initiative in October 2024,” TheNewsZenith quotes Oluwagbemi as saying.
According to him, PCNGI projected to establish 10,000 conversion centres by the end of the quarter.
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Work has started on this project in December 2024.
He said the government has expanded the programme to enable civil servants access to a discounted vehicle conversion through Credit Corp.
“To demonstrate the efficacy of CNG and electric vehicles (EV) platforms, the Finance Ministry has procured CNG buses, tricycles and 655 EV buses on behalf of PCNGI.
“We have taken delivery of about 421 CNG buses and 36 EV buses. Out of have been delivered so far.
“PCNGI has deployed 405 units of these buses. either as part of the settlement of terms with the NLC and TUC as part of the wage negotiations,” he said.
According to Oluwagbemi, the federal government established the initiative to drive the adoption of natural gas and alternative-fuel vehicles following fuel subsidy removal.
He acknowledged a temporary CNG supply gap, blaming it on a surge in private-sector-led conversions. (TNZ)
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