The Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (P-CNGi) has urged Nigerians to use only government-certified CNG conversion workshop centres nationwide for safety reasons.

P-CNGi programme director/chief executive, Michael Oluwagbemi, made the call in an interview with journalists in Abuja on Sunday.

Mr Oluwagbemi warned against patronising illegal conversion centres and locally fabricated cylinders by quacks in an attempt to convert patrol vehicles to CNG.

He advised Nigerians to visit the P-CNGi website – www.pci.gov.ng to see the list of government-approved conversion centres.

The P-CNGi is a component of the palliative intervention of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, designed to provide succour to Nigerians suffering from the hardship created by fuel subsidy removal.

The fuel price increased significantly due to the removal of petroleum subsidies and the full deregulation of the product market, creating a need for alternative energy sources such as CNG and electric vehicles.

However, Nigerians are still sceptical about its usage and have raised concerns about the security, safety, and affordability of conversion kits.

Speaking on its safety, the programme director said CNG was lighter, adding that air dissipates quickly, reducing fire risks in a contained environment.

Mr Oluwagbemi said that the regulatory standard was approved by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to cover the CNG conversion industry.

He added the Nigeria Gas Vehicle Monitoring System on the other hand, regulates and monitors all gas-powered vehicles.

“Natural gas is safer than petrol and diesel, and our aim is to transition Nigeria to the use of a safer, cheaper, cleaner and more reliable energy source,” he said.

He said the CNG programme began with seven centres and was able to increase the centres to 193 in 2024.

The P-CNGi boss said there were currently about 30 conversion centres in FCT alone, while Lagos has more than 70 centres.

He said Mr Tinubu’s administration targets one million converted vehicles by 2027, from 30,000 to 50,000 CNG-converted trucks and vehicles across the country.

Mr Oluwagbemi attributed the incident to using locally fabricated cylinders by quacks, who were injured while attempting to fill the cylinder for the first time.

“The three persons were immediately arrested and have been charged to court for economic sabotage,” he said.

Juxtaposing CNG’s incidents with petrol, the programme director pointed out several petrol explosions recorded across the country, with high mortality rates.

He explained that methane and ethane, being the primary constituents of natural gas, were single-chain linked hydrocarbons.

Mr Oluwagbemi said this contrasted with butane, propane, and all linked chain hydrocarbons, which constitute diesel, petrol, gasoline, and LPG.

The programme director further argued that the rate of fatality when a patrol vehicle exploded was nine out of 10, adding that patrol vehicles were more dangerous compared with CNG vehicles.

(NAN)