…Pi-CNG, Rolling energy unveils new CNG Integrated Refuelling Unit station in FCT

The Federal Government is expanding it’s push to transition Nigeria toward cleaner, cost-effective domestic energy, with about 106 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) refuelling stations now operational nationwide and another 170 facilities advancing through development and regulatory licensing.

Ismaeel Ahmed, the executive chairman and chief executive officer of the Presidential Initiative on Compressed Natural Gas and Electric Vehicles, disclosed this on Friday at the commissioning of a CNG Integrated Refuelling Unit station established through a partnership between the State House, Pi-CNG and Electric Vehicles, and Rolling Energy in Karu, Abuja.

According to him, private sector investors has committed about $2.6 billion to build out the country’s natural gas distribution ecosystem, signaling that the initiative has moved firmly past its initial pilot phase into commercial scaling.

He said, “This is almost our 106th station across the country in less than two years. This is not beginning any longer. The market has been proven.

“The investors are chipping in $2.6 billion worth of private investment. Our President has ordered for another round of about 500 infrastructure units to come in through the MDGIF. So I don’t think it’s a proof of concept any longer.

“It’s not the beginning. It’s a scale thing. Nigeria is 220 million people strong, 12 million vehicles. We are moving at a scale that we need to move. The work is in progress. What we need is to fasten up the scale.”

Ismaeel urged more private investors to participate in the programme, noting that the expansion of CNG infrastructure was necessary to serve Nigeria’s large vehicle population and improve access to cheaper transportation fuel.

He said, “A lot of entrepreneurs are seeing the need for this, and they are coming in, and we are calling them to come in and invest more.

“It took us 60 years to get to 24,000 PMS stations, and like the Permanent Secretary said, these are all privately owned.”

The Pi-CNG chairman also disclosed that the adoption of CNG-powered buses had reduced transportation fares by between 30 and 40 percent on some routes where the vehicles were operating.

He cited routes in Abuja, Lagos and Kano, including the Kano-Katsina route, where passengers were now paying significantly less than they previously paid for transportation.

He said, “It has significantly reduced about 30 per cent to 40 per cent of transportation fees in the routes where CNG buses are ferrying. Our goal now is to extend this to every nook and cranny of where commercial vehicles and their high-traffic corridors. That’s the goal.

“But where it is currently in operation, even in Abuja, in Lagos, in Kano, between Kano and Katsina, that used to take about N3,000, N4,000 to travel, now you take N1,500 for CNG buses that are flying that route.”

He explained that the figures were obtained by comparing existing transport fares charged by commercial vehicle operators with the fares introduced after CNG-powered buses were deployed on the same routes.

The development comes as the Federal Government seeks to encourage the use of natural gas as a cheaper alternative to petrol following the removal of fuel subsidy in 2023, which triggered a sharp increase in transportation costs.

Nigeria has substantial natural gas reserves, but much of the resource has remained underutilised, with significant volumes historically lost through gas flaring.

Also speaking at the commissioning, Temitope Peter Fashedemi, Permanent Secretary at the State House, noted that the government’s role is primarily to unlock commercial opportunities for private operators rather than finance retail distribution directly.

He explained that the facility was established by converting an abandoned petrol dispensing station belonging to the State House into a CNG refuelling and vehicle conversion centre.

According to him, the State House provided the existing facility, while Rolling Energy invested in its rehabilitation and installation of the necessary equipment without government expenditure on the project.

“What people fail to understand when they ask why they don’t see CNG stations everywhere is that it is not the government’s job to build retail stations.

“The filling stations nationwide are privately owned. State House provided the idle land and structure; Rolling Energy brought the capital, equipment, and expertise. State House hasn’t spent a single naira.”

“The few people that I get a chance to speak to, I ask them, all the filling stations you see around, are they owned by government? No. They are owned by people. They are owned by business people.

“So, the earlier business people or new people see this as an opportunity and partner with Pi-CNG/EV to set up this type of things, the better.”

The Permanent Secretary disclosed that the facility also included a vehicle conversion centre where eligible petrol-powered vehicles could be converted to run on CNG.

He said some recently acquired State House vehicles were already hybrid models capable of using CNG, while plans were underway to encourage staff members to convert eligible vehicles.

Fashedemi said the move was intended to demonstrate the Federal Government’s commitment to the initiative and encourage wider adoption among Nigerians.

He added that the facility had dispensed free CNG to motorists in surrounding communities during its trial period before its formal commissioning and commercial operations.

In his remark,  Mubarak Danbatta, the Chief Executive Officer of Rolling Energy, said the facility demonstrated the benefits of collaboration between government institutions and private investors in expanding alternative fuel infrastructure.

He explained that the company approached the State House after identifying the abandoned petrol station and proposed converting it into a CNG facility.

Danbatta said the Integrated Refuelling Unit was designed to accommodate different operations within a single system, including gas compression and dispensing.

He said, “What we have here is what we call an Integrated Refuelling Unit. As opposed to what we have in Jahi, we have our CNG station in Jahi, which is a bit different. And this is an Integrated Refuelling Unit, whereby everything is integrated into one box.

“You have the dispenser, you have the compressor, all integrated in one skid. You have double-nozzle dispensers, which means you can dispense from both sides.”

He said the facility had the capacity to refuel about 150 vehicles daily, depending on their cylinder sizes and gas pressure.

Danbatta added that the conversion centre was expected to handle about 12 vehicles daily, supported by two conversion pits installed at the facility.

He said Rolling Energy was expanding its operations across the country, with facilities in Ilorin and Abuja, while two additional stations were expected to be commissioned in Kano and another two in Kaduna.

According to him, the company is targeting nearly 15 facilities nationwide by the end of 2026.

Danbatta said the partnership with the State House was the company’s second collaboration with the Presidential CNG initiative, expressing optimism about further projects.

He said, “So basically, this is what partnership produces. And this is not the Rolling Energy’s first partnership with the Pi-CNG/EV. We’ve done one on the 29th of May, which is about two years ago. This is our second partnership with Pi-CNG/EV. And we are looking forward to doing another one in the next couple of weeks.”