Autogas to the rescue, By Wole Olaoye

My heart bleeds every time I encounter long queues of petrol that have become a permanent feature of Nigeria's cityscapes. Gasoline shortages have become so rampant that we are no longer bothered by outrageous gas queues. Across the country, lives have been lost, millions of labor hours wasted, and the health of citizens has been negatively affected, all because we have mismanaged the liquid gold flowing through the bowels of our earth.

The story of how our oil sector has become the most audacious crime scene where invisible vessels regularly "sneak" undetected to load millions of barrels of stolen crude oil will one day be told. So will the other story of how all Nigerian refineries shut down for over a decade to allow the country to import refined petroleum products at prices that pay the pockets of helpless motorists .

The situation wouldn't have been so bad if the government had kept its promise to provide an alternative to gasoline as an automotive fuel. In December 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari pledged that an ongoing autogas policy would ensure that vehicles on Nigerian roads run on compressed natural gas (CNG) or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). At present, analysts expected at least two million of the 12 million vehicles on Nigerian roads to run on either autogas or electro-battery to reduce the demand for gasoline . This dream is still a dream.

During the virtual launch of the Autogas initiative on the back of the National Gas Expansion Program, a much-heralded Gas Decade policy and 203 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas resources, President Buhari predicted that no less than 40% of vehicles on Nigerian roads would run on compressed natural gas. The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, had also revealed that the Federal Government's plan was to provide autogas which would cost between 95 naira and 97 naira per litre.

An investigation by The Guardian newspaper found that inadequate infrastructure, the high cost of gas, lack of proper planning, harsh economic realities and security concerns continued to thwart the President's autogas plan .

The original projection was that motorists would pay around N250,000 to convert their vehicles from petrol to gas. With the way the Naira has been yo-yoing lately, that estimate must have doubled by now, making the scheme further out of reach for motorists keen to seek alternatives to petrol.

In some other countries, whenever a massive program with serious environmental implications is contemplated, the government steps in with incentives, including tax exemptions to allow the average citizen to take advantage of the new program. But in the case of Nigeria, the different government units seem to work in silos. There is no central coordination unit to harmonize activities and ensure that deadlines are met. The result is that investors are disillusioned. The 250 billion naira set aside by the federal government for voluntary investors in autogas assembly plants to ensure accelerated conversion of vehicles to autogas has become insignificant over time. The funds would convert just 100,000 vehicles to autogas at current market rates.

Marketers complain that due to the typical Nigerian way of doing things, the business becomes too risky to venture into. No wonder there are only two CNG-compliant stations in the entire Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Why tie up money while the government daydreams?

In addition to solving a problem in the transport sector, the use of autogas is also more environmentally friendly. Gasoline can enter the environment in both liquid and vapor form as a result of leakage and handling during production, transport and delivery (e.g. from storage tanks, spills, etc.), even without igniting. Gasoline contains known carcinogens. A liter of gasoline emits approximately 2.3 kilograms of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, which contributes to human-caused climate change.

Many countries use it to cook and heat their homes. Perhaps its most common use is as fuel. LPG costs about half the price of gasoline, but LPG cars need more fuel to travel the same distance as gasoline vehicles. While LPG still emits greenhouse gases that have negative environmental consequences, cars that use LPG generate less carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions than petrol and diesel cars. Experts claim that LPG produces 90% less carbon monoxide and 50% less smog than natural gas. It also evaporates on its own, eliminating the environment...