Governor Dapo Abiodun during a meeting with representatives of the Ogun Central transport union at the June 12 Cultural Centre in Kuto, Abeokuta.
He said that the environmental risk presented by carbon emissions was what drove the conversion initiative, known as the “Ogun Going Green Project.”
Abiodun said: “It is no news that Ogun State enjoys the crisscross of gas pipelines coming from the Delta and going to neighbouring countries. This is why we have proliferation of industries, and we have decided to take advantage of the network of gas pipelines. We have ‘Ogun Going Green Project’. This project allows for the reduction of carbon emissions as it is done all over the world.
“We want to start by ensuring that our vehicles utilise other sources of fuel that will reduce the amount of emissions, which is the largest contributor to global warming. So, we are starting with our transportation sector.
“We are going to provide them with vehicles. These vehicles and with the one they have now, will be converted through a pilot project. We will be using a combination of gas and fuel, but the fuel will only be used to start the vehicles and after that, the gas takes over.”
He said the first set of kits for the project would arrive in the state in the next three weeks, adding that buses, trucks and taxis would be the first to benefit from the project, while motorcycles would be converted to electric ones.
The governor added that besides reducing consumption and reliance on fuel, the project would reduce environmental pollution and cost of transportation, as the cost of gas was almost a quarter of that of fossil fuel.
He said the state would facilitate new vehicles for the transporters on a part-payment basis, noting that the Ministry of Transportation had been directed to work out modalities with the unions on how to go about the plans.
Abiodun, who described the transportation sector as the live wire of any economy, said his administration regarded the union members as important stakeholders in achieving its: “Building our Future Together agenda”.
He stressed that transporters were too important to ignore in the scheme of things.
“From time to time, we must sit down with people like this and share with them what the administration has done for the avoidance of doubt and to further solicit from them what we want them to do. We want them to ply the roads responsively. We want them to drive safely and be our ambassadors.
“We want to know what their needs are and what we can do to make road transportation safer and more efficient,” he said.
The governor said his administration had embarked on massive infrastructural development across the state, especially good road network in the three senatorial districts, to ease the movement of goods and people, promising that the current administration would implement workable programmes and policies that would be of benefit to the people.
The Chairman, Ogun State Drivers Association, Akinwunmi Dauda, State Secretary Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) Tiwalade Akingbade and Secretary Ogun State Parks and Management Haruna Adekujo called for the building of a world-class park in the state capital and address of issue of touts, who harassed their members on a daily basis.
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