Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva has disclosed that cars in the presidential fleet and official cars of members of the Executive Council will be converted to run on gas instead of fuel. 

Sylva who stated that the government wants to end the reliance of Nigerians on petrol, added that the conversion of the vehicles to use compressed natural gas (CNG) is a step in his ministry’s plans to roll out the National Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP) on November 30.

The Minister further averred that gas is way much cheaper and more reliable fuel to PMS. He told Premium Times; 

“Of course, I have since converted my official vehicles to gas. 

“Beyond that, we are working on getting the members of the Executive Council of the Federation to convert their official cars to gas as a cheaper and more reliable fuel to PMS. Even cars in the presidential fleet will be converted to run on gas.

“We will also discuss with members of the National Assembly to convert their official cars to run on gas. We will kick-start that initiative soon as we plan to roll out the National Gas Expansion Programme. Hopefully, with the example we will show, we will persuade Nigerians to see gas as the preferred and reliable fuel in Nigeria.”

Sylva also disclosed that companies like Dangote Group have already converted their trucks to run effectively on gas.

He added; 

“From what I have been told, the use of gas as fuel for Dangote trucks has reduced the company’s operational cost by about 50 per cent, in terms of fueling cost.”