CNG as a viable alternative to our petrol crisis and the consequent high cost of goods and services

By Nelson Ekujumi

CITIZENS COMPASS–For decades, Nigeria and Nigerians have grappled with the crisis in our oil sector, ranging from dysfunctional refineries, importation, pipeline vandalism, oil theft, fluctuating and recurring hike in price as a result of global price of crude oil which keeps fluctuating due to international market dynamics.

This crisis of fuel has impacted negatively on our lives as the prices of goods and services which keep rising are fundamentally determined by logistics cost and it has also engendered acrimony between successive governments and the citizenry for decades.

Therefore, it is imperative for a government and people who want to permanently resolve this perennial crisis, to seek an alternative means which is cleaner, safer, cheaper, and affordable to not only bring down the prices of goods and services but also have zero effect in depleting the ozone layer and destroying our environment.

Fortunately and unfortunately, fossil fuel which is a product of the black gold with which we are abundantly blessed naturally, has huge effects on human beings and the environment through emissions that have negatively impacted the environment and contributed in no small measure to global warming that threatens our human existence on planet earth.

Enter Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) which is a natural and environmentally friendly source of energy to fuel our cars, buses, and other automobiles at a cheaper, safer, affordable, and pocket-friendly price for consumers.

To explore this option, one took a tour of a CNG dispensing station located in Agidingbi, Alausa area of Lagos State. One saw firsthand with his eyes and processed with his mind, vehicles that have been converted to using CNG to power them, conveniently and without a fuss, drive into the station for fueling, while vehicles still using fossil fuel were subjected to the inconveniences that come with purchasing petrol at the pumps.

On inquiry, the CNG attendant informed me that the station has been servicing vehicles for over 2 months now.
The price of the CNG per liter is N230 naira, so if we compare the price of fossil fuel today at the rate of between N868 – N1100 per liter, we can see that the savings that will accrue to a vehicle owner and the impact on the prices of goods and services will be in the positive in contrast to our present situation.
However, one is aware of the commitment and relentless efforts of the Presidential Committee on Compressed Natural Gas PiCNG to create awareness around the transition to this cleaner source of energy and also it’s a tour and public engagements with state governments as well as the Nigerian public across the federation.

One is also aware that the presidential committee on CNG (PiCNG) has also been meeting with stakeholders in the automobile, transportation, and petroleum business on the feasibility of establishing CNG pump stations across the country, and that project, from all available evidence, is going on steadily.

The priority being given to public transportation stakeholders by the present administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to convert to CNG at a zero cost is a development that gladdens the heart as it will contribute substantially to bringing down the prices of goods and services that have been impacted negatively by high transportation costs due to the use of fossil fuel over which we have no control to determine its cost since it’s an international product.

Based on one’s observation at the CNG pump station, one is forced to call for more to be set up even in the remotest part of our country so that we all can be beneficiaries of it. We are aware that the government through the PiCNG in several of its public engagements across the country, inundated the Nigerian public about the issue of conversion locations, and the safety and benefits of CNG to our lives, among several others of which we can’t wait to benefit for our lives to be better not only economically, but also environmentally.

Just recently, one watched the chairman of the PiCNG on a national television prime show, promising that by 2027, we are going to have over 1 million vehicles in Nigeria converted to using CNG which is heartwarming and for his information, some of us, are just too eager to transit to the use of CNG because of its immeasurable benefits not only to us economically, but also to our environment.

The whole world today is transiting from the use of fossil fuel to cleaner energy such as CNG as one of the most critical means to provide cheap, safe, affordable, and convenient sources of energy and to combat climate change, which we cannot afford to delay in joining the moving train to better our lives and save our planet earth now!

Therefore, it’s a fact that we have come to the realization of CNG as a viable option to our fossil fuel crisis, which is better for us as a people and our environment. CNG is safer, cleaner, cheaper, and affordable to bring down the prices of goods and services and has no negative contribution to depleting the ozone layer.

Nelson Ekujumi is the Convener, Centre for Social and Economic Rights