The recurring scarcity of petrol amid hike in price, removal and surreptitious return of fuel subsidy, make Nigerians wonder if the midstream and downstream sub-sector of petroleum industry is run by competent hands with managerial and technical expertise.
This query is germane because of the failure of the army of technicians, engineers, managers and policymakers paid to run the four government-owned refineries that have, practically, not produced petroleum products in nearly 30 years.
It is even more interesting that the Compressed Natural Gas alternative to petrol, personally suggested by President Bola Tinubu, is not being actively promoted by the National Automotive Design and Development Council.
The expression, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick,” found in the Holy Book, aptly describes the frustration of Nigerian citizens, who are patiently awaiting the arrival of cheaper Compressed Natural Gas to run their vehicles.
The government’s promise to facilitate this novel idea appears to have become a painful mirage, compounded by the scarcity and hike in the pump price of petrol, after the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited finally admitted that it could not provide enough petrol because of difficulties in settling its debts to its suppliers.
Claims of Nigeria’s impressive 206.53 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves, that can be increased to 600 trillion cubic feet, are turning out to be mere words as long as Nigerians cannot access the resource to fuel their vehicles.
Perhaps those who run Nigeria’s petroleum sector are fixated to the estimated 16 to 22 billion barrels of petroleum deposit in the 159 oil fields and 1,481 oil wells of Nigeria’s upstream sub-sector and the four footnote government-owned petroleum refineries that have become moribund and led to Nigerians having to queue at petrol stations for long hours, only to buy mostly at ‘black market’ prices.
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Is this fixation also caused by government expectation of higher revenue from petroleum that currently sells at $77.96 per barrel, whereas gas is going for $2.31 per unit? Maybe those who run the oil and gas sector should think of revenue from gas as complementary, rather than a substitute for petroleum revenue.
There is too much audio silence about the gas business. There is almost no conversation around the gas sub-sector or the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Company. There is near-total black out about a company that should be in the centre of conversation about Compressed Natural Gas to run the vehicles of Nigerians.
Gas is the new, viable, greener and cleaner alternative to fossil fuel, which is a major cause of global warming, apart from inordinate deforestation of the Tropical Rain Forest belt. Government could successfully swing the provision of enough Compressed Natural Gas to keep the automobiles of Nigerians on the road.
The beauty of a good policy announcement is in the transition from pronouncement to implementation. Finding a credible way to make Compressed Natural Gas a viable alternative to petrol fuel is a major way for the government to convince Nigerians that it can solve the problem of transportation, an essential component to running any modern economy.
Although there are reports of a few stations in Lagos, Ibadan and some other cities throughout Nigeria, where commuters can refill their vehicles with Compressed Natural Gas, they are few and far between and there is extremely little or no information about the location of these stations.
For now, the main job of government is to let Nigerians know where they can convert their vehicles from fossil fuel engine to gas-powered engine, and to also tell them where to buy the Compressed Natural Gas refill on a regular basis. The government should lead by example in this regard: top elected public officials should convert their vehicles to gas-powered engine.
Oluwawemimo Osanipin, Director General of National Automotive Design and Development Council, does have a lot on his plate. He must show more presence of mind in the public space to promote the adoption of the Compressed Natural Gas option for vehicles.
There is no doubt that Compressed Natural Gas would be a veritable game-changer if Nigerians have access to its cheaper and faster solution to the scarcity and high cost of petrol fuel.
