Embrace Gas As Alternative To Petrol — Pres. Buhari Urges Nigerians

President Muhammadu Buhari has urged Nigerians to embrace the use of gas as an alternative to premium motor spirit (PMS) popularly known as petrol.

The President made the appeal on Tuesday, December 1, at a virtually held event at the State House, Abuja, to unveil National Gas Expansion Programme and National Autogas Roll-out Initiative.

The President said the auto-gas initiative will lead to increased domestic gas utilization and enrich the trajectory of national economic growth and development.

“I therefore encourage everyone to embrace gas in form of LPG, CNG and LNG as an alternative fuel for autos and other prime-movers.

“It is no longer news that the vast Natural Gas resources, which Nigeria is endowed with has hitherto been used sub-optimally as a result of a dearth of gas processing facilities and infrastructural connectivity for effective and optimal domestic utilization.

With a proven reserve of about 203 Trillion Cubic Feet (TCF) and additional upside of 600 TCF ranking Nigeria as the 9th in the world currently, the need for domestic gas expansion and utilization is apparent.

Therefore, the roll-out of the National Gas Expansion Programme, Auto-gas initiative is coming at the right time, especially in light of global crude oil market fluctuations coupled with the full deregulation of the local PMS market.

These developments have made it imperative to focus on gas as an alternative fuel to move Nigeria from the conventional dependence on white products for autos and prime-movers of industrial applications, to cleaner, more available, accessible and affordable energy source.

The outcome will not only cushion the effect of the downstream deregulation that this government has to painfully implement, but also create new markets and enormous job opportunities for our people,” he said.