FG reverses self, says autogas conversion for vehicles is free

The federal government says earlier information that diesel and petrol automobiles owners will pay N250,000 for autogas conversion is wrong.

Justice Derefaka (pictured), technical adviser on gas business and policy implementation to the minister of state for petroleum resources, told journalists on Friday that his previous statement that vehicle owners will pay N250,000 for autogas conversion was not correct.

On Wednesday, Derefaka had advised vehicle owners to partner with their banks to choose a convenient payment plan or go for a different approach.

“The cost varies. So, in terms of cost implication, it depends on the cylinder of the vehicle and of course, for a typical SUV cylinder, it is a bit higher but on the average, it is around N200,000 to N250,000 and this is for a four-cylinder vehicle but it becomes a little bit higher for a six-cylinder SUV vehicle,” he said during a programme on Channels TV,

Derefaka’s statement was contrary to remarks earlier made by Mele Kyari, group managing director (GMD) of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) that the FG will provide free autogas conversion services for cars.

“You bring your car to a location and then we fit in the things you need to call the gas and also to receive the gas into your car,” Kyari had said.

“All the 1 million cars that we promised will be done through a structure that the ministry of petroleum resources will put in place to ensure that any Nigerian who has to convert his car will get it done for free.”

According to Derefaka, the government aims to convert 1 million vehicles to run on autogas by the end of 2021.

“I granted an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily where I stated that the auto conversion of vehicles to run on gas will amount to N250,000 and Nigerians will need to pay for that. That statement is not correct, it’s wrong, ” Derefaka said.

“On that note, I would like to state the true position which has been made by my boss, the honourable minister of state of petroleum resources, Dr Timipre Sylva and of course, being corroborated by the group managing director, Mallam Mele Kyari, that government will convert those vehicles for free to Nigerians, and we are looking at 1 million vehicles by the end of 2021.”