The Presidency on Thursday allayed fears that the Compressed Natural Gas, CNG initiative of President Bola Tinubu’s government could be dangerous.
This followed the trending news of the Malaysian government to phase out the use of Natural Gas Vehicles, NGV in that country following safety concerns.
Loke Siew Fook, Malaysian Minister of Transport, who announced the plan while addressing journalists, said CNG-powered vehicles would no longer be registered or used in the country from July 1, 2025, due to safety concerns.
However, the media aide to President Tinubu, Bayo Onanuga said in a statement on Thursday that the Malaysian issue is different.
He said the concern raised by the Malaysian government speaks more to the safety of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG and not the safety of CNG.
According to Onanuga, “NGV covers both CNG and LPG. Nigeria in its transition has adopted CNG ONLY not both because of LPG’s valid safety and cost concerns
“Malaysia basically had an unsuccessful transition away from costly and dirtier petrol and diesel. Conversion of 45,000 vehicles in 15 years (less than 0.2%) is not enviable unlike India, China, Iran and Egypt.
“The end of 15 year CNG tank cycle means they need to replace tanks and it was easier/cheaper to scrap their program and continue with their petrol than to do so if they had not built tank manufacturing capacity which Nigeria is already developing in year one”.
