Plans are underway by the Federal Government to provide Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) infrastructure to 20 university campuses across the country.
Speaking at a signing ceremony between Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and Femadec Energy Limited in Abuja, the Chief Executive of NMDPRA, Farouk Ahmed, said his agency will provide enabling environment and support for the projects towards actualising aspirations of the Federal Government in adopting gas as transition fuel.
On his part, the Executive Director of Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund (MDGIF), Mansur Kuliya, noted: “MDGIF was established by Section 52 of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 (PIA) as a federal corporate body to manage funds and provide equity investments of government-owned participating or shareholder interests in infrastructure related to midstream and downstream gas operations with the objective of increasing the domestic consumption of natural gas, encouraging private investments in midstream and downstream gas projects and reducing or eliminating gas flaring in Nigeria.” He said the initiative is in line with the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (PCNGI).
Kuliya explained that a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Femadec Energy Limited will accelerate deployment of CNG infrastructure as a special palliative to lessen transportation cost for tertiary institutions and introduce clean energy towards net zero agenda.
Chief Executive Officer of Femadec Energy Limited, Fola Akinnola, said due to recent subsidy removal in the country, which necessitated changing from traditional fossil fuel (petrol and diesel) to gas, Femadec proposed and agreed with PCNGI on a strategy that involves adoption of CNG-fuelled vehicles and provision of relevant CNG infrastructure, including setting up of auto gas conversion centres.
He said: “The objective is to lessen transportation costs for students and lecturers, reduce carbon emissions to meet the Federal Government’s net zero emissions target, and bring awareness to students in terms of gas technology and its various uses. He added that the project would target 20 universities in the initial phase, each to be provided with 10 CNG-fuelled buses, CNG or LCNG refueling units and storage, gas generator, and a conversion centre.”
