Kunle Awosiyan
With the continual increase in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit, petrol, auto-experts are calling on motorists to embrace the Compressed Natural Gas conversion technology.
Mr Micheal Akanbi, an expert on Petrol/gas engine conversion told Echonews that for every converted vehicle, the owner will be saving about N9, 0000 that should have been spent on petrol for every 10 Standard Cubic Metre of gas bought.
According to him, one SCM of CNG is sold at about N110 compared to a litre of petrol that now sells at over N1000. Invariably, you are saving about N900 on every one SCM of CNG,”he said.
On how much it costs to convert a petrol vehicle to CNG’s, Akanbi said that it varies from as low as N400, 000 to about N1 million depending on the prices of the conversion kits and the company that handles it.
Akanbi’s explanation is not so different from that of Mr. Brian Amonu, an Oil and Gas Expert, and the Managing Director of Gas Analytics and Solution. He told Echonews that CNG has been operating successfully in Edo State since 2007.
However, the removal of fuel subsidy with its far reaching impact beyond increasing cost of transportation is making more people to embrace CNG conversion and in a way has expanded the business of conversion.
(Brian Amonu, Managing Director of Gas Analytics and Solution.)
“We have over 30,000 filling stations we are working with now to provide CNG for converted vehicles, “”he said.
Amonu explained that his company has a sustainable energy access project, which is being supported very strongly by African Development Bank with partnership with NNPCl Gas And Power Investment Company to make the new technology work effectively.
When we started , we were charging N295,000 for conversion and there is also loan facility.
“”We are partnering with the Nigeria labour Congress to deploy a pre-loan qualification loan form to all the workers in Nigeria. We are working with eight local banks supported by AfDB. We are providing loans to vehicle owners and mass transit vehicles and state government to finance the conversion of their vehicles. We’ve given them three to five years to pay it off. By creating a large pull of converted CNG will justify investment along the CNG investment value chain.
To a CNG engineer, Masud Ya’U, N4000 CNG will travel 150km and it is safer because the cylinder is bullet proof and does not leak.
A visit by our correspondent to Autogig International Resources Ltd. in Gbagada, one of six centres selected by the PCNGi revealed a growing number of car owners who came around to convert their petrol cars to CNG.
Speaking to Echonews, one of the customer service personnel who identified himself as Joseph said at least four serious customers come around daily to make inquiries, adding that the conversion process begins with an inspection to determine the vehicle’s eligibility.
“Any vehicle with an internal combustion engine, which operates on the fire triangle—spark, fuel, and air—common to most two-stroke and four-stroke engines, is eligible,” he noted.
Once the vehicle is cleared, conversion takes one to three days. “The steps include mapping the vehicle for the best positioning of the CNG kit, installing it, and programming the Electronic Control Unit (ECU) to ensure smooth operation,” Joseph added.
The process ends with a test drive to confirm the system works.
He clarified that converting to CNG does not remove the petrol or diesel engine. “The vehicle becomes a hybrid, capable of switching between petrol/diesel and CNG,” Joseph explained, highlighting the flexibility this offers.
He noted that once the vehicle is converted, it can switch between CNG and petrol or diesel. Joseph explained that the switch occurs after the engine starts, with two key modalities in the ECU.
Speaking, a commercial driver who benefited from the Federal Government free conversion initiative, Mr. Olatunji Bolatito, said, “”It is easy because it saves me money. It’s my friend that called me that I should come here that the government is offering Free CNG Conversion For Vehicles and surprisingly it was done for me. I use N4000 for three days.””
How Safe Is Converted Vehicle
According to the experts CNG is safer than LPG, regular cooking gas and safer than petrol in the sense that it is lighter than air and stored under high pressure.
It is contained in steel cylinder. And in case that the gas leaks, the gas quickly dissipate into the air. For natural gas to combust, it must have a ratio five to 15 per cent and because it is lighter than air, it doesn’t hang around to get to that ratio.
Inherently, natural gas is safer than petrol, LPG and cooking gas in the case of any accident. There have not been any explosive incident since CNG has been in use in Edo since 2007.
Speaking, the Program Director, Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative, Mr. Michael Olugbemi, said that there are now 125 conversion centres across the country, which has provided 20, 000 jobs.
(Beneficiary, Mr. Bolatito)
According to him, last year, the country only had seven conversion centres but as at October 2024, there are 125 centres and more are still coming.
Olugbemi called on private companies and state government across the country to tap into the technology, saying that it is going to be more beneficial to them.
“States should do it for their civil servants by converting all their vehicles to CNG. Ordinarily this can cost about N1.2m to car owner but the FG is running this free for commercial vehicles to reduce cost of transportation. There are 125 centres across the country and more are still coming.
Where To Do CNG Conversion In Lagos
There are six locations In Lagos and these include; Femadec, Km 42, Lekki-Epe Expressway, Majek Second Gate Stop, Abiju Ibeju, Lekki, Lagos; Portland No. 1, Ojota Interchange Terminal, Bayo Shodipo, Ojota, Lago; Mezovest, KM 23, Lekki-Epe Expressway, Ajah, opposite Kilimanjaro, beside Libmat Motors, by Abraham Adesanya Bus Stop; Dana Motors, Dana Motors Ltd Kia Plaza, 117 Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, Isolo, Lagos; MBH Power, Km 5, Ikotun Road, Itamope, Ikorodu, Lagos; Autogig Plot 144b Gbagada Expressway, Gbagada, Lagos.
(Michael Olugbemi)
In August 2023, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu launched the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (PCNGI) to transform Nigeria’s transportation by introducing over 11,500 CNG-enabled vehicles and 55,000 conversion kits for petrol vehicles.
However, many of those who spoke to Echonews said that as good as the conversion may sound, the price is too high for them to bear.
Mr. Tayo Olatoye said he had visited one of the conversion centres and was asked to go and prepare for about 1 million. “”Where will I get such amount in this bad economy,”” he said.