The federal government, through the Compressed Natural Gas Initiatives, has announced the plan to target over 25,000 jobs and $2.5bn worth of investment by 2027.

The Programme Director and Chief Executive of the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiatives, Michael Oluwagbemi, announced this during the Presidential CNG stakeholders’ engagement workshop held at BOVAS Auto-Gas filing stations, Ajibode Bus-Stop in Ibadan, Oyo State capital on Friday.

The president said the initiative, which was part of palliative measures to ease the burden of removing fuel subsidies, will attract enormous investment and job creation that will impact the lives of Nigerians positively.

He, however, called on Nigerians to embrace the new initiatives by the Federal Government as part of palliatives to cushion the effect of removing fuel subsidies in the country.

He said, “On October 1, 2023, when the President gave his speech, he announced that the Presidential CNG initiatives would be rolled out as part of palliatives on the removal of fuel subsidy.

“One of our primary concerns is to make sure that the transition for the transportation sector is a cheaper, safer, and more reliable energy source.

“In the coming weeks, we are going to be announcing the conversion incentives program, which will enable Nigerians currently using PMS and Diesel fuel vehicles to be able to convert their vehicles at designated places across the country at a discounted price based on certain pre-qualification under the palliative program of the federal government.”

On the value chain of the initiative, Oluwagbemi explained that the Federal Ministry of Finance is acquiring tricycles and buses that will be assembled and manufactured in Nigeria, with more than five automobile firms being activated.

“The value chain of the program starts with every one of us. From the point of converting your vehicle, you have created the demand for natural gas. If your car is restored by technicians and refueled by autogas workshops nationwide, you create jobs for civil engineers and technicians. You’re creating jobs for the upstream in terms of upstream activities associated with oil and gas.

In line with the program, the Federal Ministry of Finance is acquiring several tricycles and buses assembled and manufactured in Nigeria. More than five of our automobile firms have been activated. So, you can see that in terms of job creation, the opportunities for Nigerians are enormous.

“The President has said we need to convert one million vehicles by 2027. We need 1,000 conversion shops, and we need over 3,000 filing stations just like this. You can imagine the level of investment required for this.

“To sustain one million vehicle conversions by 2027, we need 25,000 technicians. So, the job creation potential is an opportunity for job creation in addition to our gross domestic product, $2.5 billion worth of investment to be mobilized in the next four years and, of course, more than $25 billion added to our GDP.”

The representative of BOVAS filling stations, a private investor in the Presidential CNG Initiatives, Temitope Samson, said, “We have worked with the regulators; we are also working with the Presidential Initiatives on CNG to make sure that standard safety is adhered to. We have also worked with the Standard Organisation of Nigeria to ensure that we have a standard accepted internationally.

Last year, President Bola Tinubu approved the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas initiative.

This initiative aims to introduce more than 11,500 new CNG-enabled vehicles and provide 55,000 CNG conversion kits for existing cars that depend on Premium Motor Spirit.