Ekperipke Ekpo, minister of state for petroleum resources (gas), says President Bola Tinubu has instructed that filling stations be converted to compressed natural gas (CNG) outlets.
Ekpo made this statement at the State House following the federal executive council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday, which was chaired by the president.
The minister mentioned that Tinubu “gave a charge” concerning CNG, communicated through the minister of information during the FEC meeting.
“We are well aware that the president set up a presidential committee on the CNG to drive the CNG project,” Ekpo said.
He further explained that CNG is the way forward for Nigeria due to its safety, cost-effectiveness, and environmental benefits.
He also noted that the president discussed the need to ensure that “most of the filling stations across the country are converted into CNG stations, where you have the conversion kits so that people can convert their vehicle to CNG”.
Ekpo added, “It is important to note that when you are using CNG, you save a lot of money. A litre of fuel that can go for N1000, with CNG, you get it at N200, which saves you N800.”
He expressed optimism about the president’s commitment and push to ensure the CNG programme reaches all parts of the country, enabling Nigeria to fully tap into its natural gas resources.
On October 22, President Tinubu stated that Nigerians could choose between buying premium motor spirit (PMS), commonly known as petrol, at N1,000 per litre or CNG at N200 per standard cubic meter.
In another update, Heineken Lokpobiri, minister of state for petroleum resources (oil), revealed that the FEC has approved an initiative by the petroleum technology development fund (PTDF) to print one million science textbooks for secondary schools.
Lokpobiri said the proposal was submitted by PTDF, which had developed the “PTDF Stem Fund” as part of its Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Programme.
“STEM is science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Sometime ago, the PTDF, which is the creation of law, with the mandate to build the capacity of Nigerians in oil and gas industry, came up with a program called PTDF Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Programme,” he said.
“They sought to obtain presidential approval and today, we brought a memo to council to be able to print 1 million science textbooks.”
He mentioned that the targeted subjects were physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and computer science, as these areas were identified as challenging for many Nigerian students.
Lokpobiri emphasized that to be globally competitive, Nigeria must strengthen capacity at the secondary school level.
The programme aims to distribute the one million textbooks to all 774 local government areas in Nigeria, 104 unity schools, and 122 special schools.
“This memo was brought before Council. It was approved by council. Essentially, what is important is that this is a support and dual capacity at the secondary school level to match up with the rest of the world in terms of technological and engineering development. We need to lay a very solid foundation,” Lokpobiri added.
In addition, Lokpobiri recalled that a previous memo to build physical and digital libraries in about 1,000 secondary schools across the country had also received FEC approval.
He concluded that this recent approval complements PTDF’s broader goal of enhancing Nigeria’s capacity.
