The Federal Government has activated its Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Conversion Incentive Program in eight states with plans to expand to nine more by the end of 2024.

The states where the CNG Conversion Incentive Program has kicked off include Oyo, Lagos, Ogun, Edo, Delta, Kogi, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and Nasarawa.

This update was contained in a statement posted on the official X (formerly Twitter) account of PCNGi on Saturday.

The next phase will see the program activated in Kwara, Ekiti, Osun, Niger, Rivers, Kano, Akwa Ibom, Abia, and Enugu, the statement  revealed.

“We have successfully activated the Conversion Incentive Program in 8 states: Oyo, Lagos, Ogun, Edo, Delta, Kogi, FCT, and Nasarawa.  

“An additional 9 states – Kwara, Ekiti, Osun, Niger, Rivers, Kano, Akwa Ibom, Abia, and Enugu – are slated for activation before the end of 2024,” the statement read in part.

The statement highlighted that while there are plans to roll out the program nationwide, the massive scale and complexity of such an undertaking make it impossible to implement across all 36 states and the FCT simultaneously, necessitating a strategic and phased approach.

What you should know   

The Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Conversion Incentive Program, spearheaded by the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (PCNGi), is designed to alleviate the impact of rising fuel costs and promote the adoption of cleaner energy sources for transportation.

The program provides incentives for vehicle owners and fleet operators to convert their petrol-powered vehicles to CNG, a more affordable and environmentally sustainable fuel option.

PCNGi launched the CNG Conversion Incentive Program on September 13, 2024, beginning with Lagos, Ogun, and Oyo states.

The initiative expanded to Kaduna and Abuja on September 14, 2024.

As part of the program, PCNGi is offering free CNG kits to the first 50 vehicles inspected and deemed eligible for conversion at each of the designated CNG conversion centers.

Converted vehicles will enable owners to refuel at a cost of N230 per SCM of CNG at any NIPCO station, resulting in considerable savings compared to petrol.

In preparation for the program, twelve new CNG stations were inaugurated in Lagos and Abuja in June 2024, through a partnership with NNPC and NIPCO Gas.

Furthermore, in July 2024, PCNGi signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to convert one million commercial vehicles to CNG by 2027, selecting 2,000 workshops to support the project.