The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, says the federal government is working with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to implement the AutoGas Policy fully with the intention to give loans to downstream operators.

Mr Sylva said this at an interactive session with journalists in Abuja on Tuesday.

President Muhammadu Buhari, on December 1, 2020, launched the autogas policy to help reduce the impact of the high cost of petrol price in Nigeria.

The minister explained that there was the need to have a critical mass of vehicles converted to use gas to achieve the desired impact in the country.

“Now, if you have a critical mass of vehicles, maybe one million converted to use gas, you must also have a commensurate amount of filling stations that are enabled to fill the one million cars converted.

“So, you cannot do one aspect of it in exclusion. They must go hand in hand. If not, the whole programme will not make sense. We are working right now with the Central Bank of Nigeria to ensure that we are able to bring in conversion kits for a critical mass of vehicles,” the minister explained.

According to him, part of the process will be to give loans to downstream operators.

Mr Sylva further explained, “And then also give soft loans at the same time to downstream operators to fix their filling stations, so that when we fit the two together, it will work.

“That process is ongoing; we have already launched the policy, and it has brought the attention to Nigerians to know that it is a policy direction now.” 

He pointed out that one or two filling stations could not salvage the whole situation.

The minister noted that ensuring a critical mass of vehicles and filling stations would help implement the policy.

“I can tell you that we are working on that, and I think it is a very good development,” he said.