The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva encouraged Nigerians during NTA’s ‘Good Morning Nigeria’ on Monday to embrace the conversion of their cars and generators to dual fuel.
This, according to the minister is a way of cushioning the effect of the hike in pump price of petrol.
The minister said the move which will commence in October would reduce carbon emissions as well as the demand for Premium Motor Spirit which is also known as petrol.
He disclosed that cars are capable of running on both gas and petrol
Sylva explained that, “The alternative we are now introducing is gas, which is definitely going to be cheaper than the subsidised rate of PMS. So, what we are trying to encourage Nigerians to do now is to convert their cars to dual fuel.”
He affirmed that the federal government will convert everyone’s vehicle to dual fuel for free, provided the cars are in good conditions.
He said a feasible plan will be rolled out by October, such that Nigerians can decide to buy either gas or petrol to power their cars.
According to him, “Nigerians will have alternatives. It is like introducing a toll on the roads. When you introduce a tollgate, you are expected and required by law to also create an alternative. So, we are also creating that alternative so that you can go to buy gas.”
He said the use of gas is cleaner and climate friendly.
“It will become cheaper and cleaner. Of course, our carbon emissions will actually reduce and we are expecting to gain some money from climate change (sic) for reducing our carbon emission. This is going to be a policy direction that will create a lot of opportunities.”
He stated, “We are going to convert ‘I better pass my neighbour’. So, you will have a situation where in your house, your gas cylinder will be connected to your generator and cooker. So, you don’t need any other fuel apart from gas to run your generators.”
He declared that all NNPC filling stations and some private sector marketers have shown support for the initiative. He also added that the scheme would start gradually from a part of the country till it spreads to all and sundry.
The minister affirmed that filling stations owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) would be the first to begin selling gas to vehicles.
To establish the effectiveness of the scheme, Slyva recalled that the Federal Government launched a similar pilot scheme with commercial tricycles in Port Harcourt which were converted to gas and it was successful.
