Members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN)  have revealed that they are in speech’s with the Federal Government to commence the sale of compressed natural gas in their filling stations.

During an Exclusive interview with newsmen, Hammed Fashola the National Vice President of (IPMAN)  added that, marketers’ existing filling stations would serve as CNG refilling points to hasten the adoption of gas in the country on Tuesday.

With the removal of fuel subsidy, the Federal Government have been making efforts to invest in gas as a cheaper and cleaner alternative to petrol and diesel.

Also, the unavailability of CNG stations has been a major hindrance to the Tinubu gas initiative.

He mentioned a meeting between the Federal Government and independent traders to explore ways of distributing the goods throughout Nigeria.

Over 80% of the gas stations in all of the nation’s nooks and crannies are owned by IPMAN.

Claiming that CNG was the next big thing, he said that a lot of independent marketers already sold cooking gas, or liquefied petroleum gas, in their stations.

“Most of our members are into LPG already. You see scales in their stations for the sale of domestic gas.

“Now we are looking at CNG. We are talking with the government; we want to partner with the government on that. It is very easy for us. We already have the facility; we have the filling stations. It is just to add up, and then we are good to go.

“And if we have CNG, it is an alternative to petrol and diesel. It will be cheaper, and people will have an option. That is why we said let’s go for CNG,” he stated.

According to Fashola, IPMAN members want to be selling CNG and kits as they currently sell petrol at their filling stations.

“When you enter a filling station, you can go for whatever you want, either petrol or CNG,” he averred.

On the high cost of transporting the product and the need for pipelines, he said seminars were being held on how to make the distribution process seamless.

“We had a seminar with a consultant, who explained to us that the process would be easier. They want to break it down just like we have our petrol depots. There will be smaller depots to service various CNG stations.

“Though we have not finalised it, the way they explained it, it is doable and possible. And we will be getting the product directly from the source. It won’t be like petrol where we rely on third parties to get fuel,” he explained.