Invest in gas-powered vehicles for commercial purposes to tackle fuel scarcity in the country – Minister

Tayo AFOLABI

Nigerians have been advised to invest in gas-powered vehicles for commercial purposes to tackle fuel scarcity in the country.

Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, gave the advice in his address at the public presentation of a book entitled: ‘Dimensions of Energy Poverty and Rural Electrification in Nigeria’, held at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan on Monday.

Aregbesola said if Nigerians could emulate Egypt in running their commercial vehicles on gas, high demand for petrol and diesel would reduce.

The book was launched to commemorate the 60th birthday of the author, Dr. Yunus Akintunde, the first person to bag a doctorate degree in Energy and Environment in the country.

Aregbesola who was the chairman of the occasion said: “But we can learn a little bit from Egypt where its commercial vehicles, particularly the taxis are powered by gas. These are the old Peugeot and Renault cars that are no longer in use in Nigeria and other parts of the world, but which have been converted to use gas and are still being used because they are well maintained.

“It is high time we borrowed from this. If all our commercial vehicles run on gas, a large chunk of the demand for petrol and diesel will drop. The mechanics will take less than a week to learn how to do the conversion and in six months, all commercial vehicles would have gone through the transition. This will reduce the cost of transportation, especially for the masses that patronise public transport systems.”