The Presidential Initiative on Compressed Natural Gas (Pi-CNG) has called for more private sector participation in the CNG value chain, especially in the establishment of more Conversion Centres across the country.

The Programme Director/Chief Executive of the Presidential Initiative on CNG, Mr. Michael Oluwagbemi, appealed yesterday while commissioning the TeeJay Motors Ltd, CNG Conversion Centre, located at Cele Bus Stop, on the Apapa/Oshodi Expressway, Lagos.

Oluwagbemi, who was represented by the Pi-CNG Regional Director, South West, Mrs Ogonna Onyemelukwe, said to meet the presidential directive to convert one million vehicles to CNG by 2026, the scheme would require a minimum of 150,000 to 200,000 Centres and a minimum of two million conversion technicians.

According to him, though Nigerians have been on the gas journey before now, the Tinubu administration is taking practical steps to make the gas sub-sector attractive.

He noted that Nigeria, with over three trillion cubic feet of clean gas, has no business suffering energy crisis, adding that Nigeria is ninth out of 150 gas-rich nations in the world and the first gas-rich nation on the African continent.

Oluwagbemi lauded TeeJay Motors Chairman, Adekunle Tijani, for keying into the new policy direction of the government presidential directive and investing massively, by opening a conversion centre on the Apapa/Oshodi axis.

According to him, between May 2023 and till date, no fewer than 55 conversion centres have sprung up in the Southwest alone and close to a dozen in the Lagos area, with many more waiting to commence operation.

He urged Nigerians to maximally support the cleaner gas initiative as a source of transmission fuel for the huge benefits it entails for the economy.

Giving an overview of the new project, which is a subsidiary of Teejay Motors, the Managing Director of FirstCor, Adeshina Banire, said the company envisaged much more than a conversion centre, and by March, it will begin the training of certified conversion technicians, even as plans are on to for Teejay Motors to start assembling CNG vehicles.

Representative of the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), Mr. Oloruntoba Ogunmola, said the agency is happy to come in as a strategic partner in the CNG initiative adding that NADDC can ensure that every kit that would be used at the centre is certified and meets the acceptable global standard.

Earlier, the daughter of the Chairman, Miss Khadijat Tijani said the conversion centre was a way of ensuring the success of the presidential initiative, adding that Teejay Motors, which is a major partner of LAMATA on the BRT has remained at the forefront of contributing to logistics and transportation solutions.