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The Director General of the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), Mr. Jelani Aliyu, has unveiled 2,322 state-of-the-art buses powered by compressed natural gas (CNG), as part of Nigeria’s efforts to leverage natural gas resources to drive its automotive industry.
The eco-friendly vehicles were purchased from OMAA Motors by the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) to expand their national fleet and further deepen government’s shift to an auto-industry driven by more environmentally friendly energy sources.
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According to Aliyu, the RTEAN has provided strong testimony that the implementation of the National Automotive Industry Development Plan (NAIDP) by the NADDC was already yielding result.
The NADDC’s boss noted that the “CNG powered vehicles produced locally by OMAA Motors will make transportation cheaper for the commuters and also save lives and protect the environment because it is a cleaner fuel compared to petrol and diesel.”
The CNG vehicles rely on much cleaner fuel that produces “no particulates (no soot) no hydrocarbons, virtually zero carbon and drastically reduces the amount of nitrogen oxide (55% less) put into the air.”
Aliyu said as Nigeria was one of the 195 signatories to the Paris Accord on the mitigation of greenhouse gases, it has become expedient for the country to leverage alternative or clean energy as well as its huge reserves of natural gases as a transition fuel.
The NADDC is also aggressively pursuing the implementation of local production of electric vehicles (EVs) as part of ensuring a national compliance on the Paris Accord.
The Council is driving a policy thrust to encourage many indigenous auto manufacturers including OMAA Motors and Austrian Technologies Nigeria to go into eco vehicles production.
OMAA Motors, an energy start-up vehicle manufacturing company, first launched its range of dual-fuel CNG buses into the Nigerian market in 2021 with an energy efficiency that offers between 30-40% savings on energy consumption by vehicles.
In addition, eco-friendly vehicles not only significantly reduce carbon emissions but also exposure to attendant hazards of petrol and diesel that constitutes major risk to human health.
Aliyu tasked all transport associations in the country to emulate the RTEAN and key into the National Gas Expansion Program by patronizing made-in-Nigeria gas powered vehicles.
Also speaking at the commissioning ceremony of the 2,322 CNG powered buses procured for the 774 local governments by road transport association, the Executive National Chairman of RTEAN, Alhaji Musa Maitakobi, expressed continuous commitment to working with the NADDC in the adoption of CNG vehicles.
Globally, there is an increasing shift to CNG and other clean energy to power vehicles. According to one report, as at May 2000, natural gas buses now account for at least 20% of all new bus orders in the United States, a leading promoter of CNG. The percentage is much higher now as the world moves away from diesel and petrol depended vehicles.
