RIL Hydro Krafts Ltd, a Nigerian company, is partnering with USA-based Blue Gas Marine Inc (BGM) to introduce the BGM Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) technology for powering boats on Nigerian waterways. In this interview with TOLA ADENUBI, the CEO of the company, Mr Layi Solesi, speaks on the benefits of CNG to water transportation users. Excerpts:

TELL us about RIL Hydro Krafts and the CNG4Marine story?

Ril Hydro Krafts is an operator within Nigeria’s marine and blue economy space. Part of what we do, we provide custom aluminium boat services. In the course of our operations, we observed the cost constraints boat operators face powering their boats with petrol or diesel, and that’s why we have been exploring alternative energy for waterways transportation. This is the motivation behind our brand CNG4Marine, an iconic tagline advocating CNG as fuel for marine transportation. Fortunately for us, while we were developing our CNG4Marine proposition, President Bola Tinubu won the 2023 presidential election and his first pronouncement as President was the removal of petrol subsidy.

The transportation sector has felt the highest impact as regards the removal of fuel subsidy. Cost of transportation spiraled, leading to President Tinubu approving the establishment of a flagship program of his administration, the Presidential Initiative on Compressed Natural Gas (Pi-CNG) towards the end of 2023. The recently renamed Pi-CNG & EV has a nationally broad mandate to transform the energy mix for Nigeria’s transportation sector by promoting the adoption of Compressed Natural Gas as alternative fuel to petrol and diesel, as well as electric vehicles.

From inception, perhaps unintentionally, the focus of the Pi-CNG had been on road transportation, but we at Ril Hydro Krafts Ltd, through our CNG4MARINE proposition, have been engaging the Pi-CNG & EV management on the need for the marine sector to be onboarded on the programme because millions of Nigerians use the waterways as a means of daily commuting and livelihood.

Most boat operators still power their boats with petrol, making waterways transportation very expensive. What is the level of CNG acceptability on the waterways?

Yes, there are more petrol-powered engines (outboard motors) than diesel-powered boats. We believe the situation will change soon as we are collaborating with other critical stakeholders. In all the events that we have held or participated in, with national associations of boat operators members in attendance, they have expressed their joy at the entry of the BGM CNG-Petrol Hybrid Dual Fuel Technology into Nigeria’s marine transportation sector and embraced CNG as an affordable, clean, safe, emission- and maintenance-friendly fuel that will transform their operation. The work we have been doing in the last 27 months has been more of advocacy, a sectoral cause to get the inland marine transportation sub-sector onboarded on the CNG revolution train. Have we attained our mission? Certainly not yet. Have we made progress? Indeed, we have. Step by step, we have been evolving our strategy as we have been making progress.

Somebody must break the good news to President Bola Tinubu that there is CNG4MARINE. There is no better news to tell millions of coastal and riverine dwellers that the technology that will enable their boats to use CNG, a cheaper, safer and cleaner fuel is available. This will be a very notable selling point of his administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda-driven CNG for mobility programme (as implemented by the Pi-CNG & EV) to millions of coastal and riverine dwellers who are groaning under the impact of high petrol prices, which has been exacerbated by the US-Iran war. I guarantee that access to BGM CNG-Petrol Hybrid Dual Fuel Technology to enable coastal and riverine boat operators to power their boats will be transformational to the lives of coastal and riverine dwellers.

Only recently, it was in the news that President Tinubu has directed the distribution of 100,000 CNG kits across the country to mitigate the impact of the US- Iran war. Again, the bias is towards auto CNG. If Mr. President can graciously empower 2,000 boats with our BGM CNG-Petrol Hybrid Dual Fuel Add-On Systems, enabling them to utilise CNG as fuel, Nigeria’s Inland Water Transportation stakeholders will literally be his “campaigners”. The transformational impact on how goods and citizens are transported across Nigeria’s 3,000 km navigable waterways system will be monumental; it will reduce the cost of agricultural commodities significantly while also opening the hinterlands to economic prosperity. Not to mention the catalytic impact on CNG adoption as fuel for marine transportation sector. 2,000 is just a fraction or two percent of the 100,000 units of conversion kits planned for the road transport sector.

The federal and state governments (endowed with waterbodies) need to be more intentional in their investments on waterways transportation and the adoption of CNG as energy for powering boats. Yes, many people in government don’t use waterways for their transportation, but the masses (dwelling in coastal and riverine communities) do; therefore, governments must be more intentional about it.

When you look at all the states in terms of water transportation development, you must commend Lagos State for its commitment to inland water transportation. The ambitious OMI EKO project is a case in point; there is none like it in scope and scale in Africa. Lagos State government through LASWA is actively collaborating with Ril Hydro Krafts Ltd (under the auspices of our CNG4MARINE Services) to catalyze the adoption of CNG as an alternative energy for water transportation.

The Omi Eko buses unveiled by the Lagos State government, are they on CNG?

The Omi Eko water buses are presently not on CNG, but there is a plan to transform them into CNG hybrid-powered ferries. Currently, they are powered by petrol, but the operators have realised that CNG will enable them to attain their goals. In collaboration with Lagos State Government through LASWA, we are at the cusp of conducting a pilot of our BGM CNG-Petrol Hybrid Dual Fuel Onboard System. This is precedent to the transformation of the Omi-Eko water buses into CNG hybrid-powered ferries. This pilot will be underlined by a tripartite strategic collaborative arrangement involving LASWA, PiCNG&EV, and RIL Hydro Krafts Ltd/CNG4MARINE.

To use CNG on the waterways, how will the boat operators refill? Where will refilling points be located on the waterways?

The way forward as regards refueling for CNG boats will be Mobile Refueling Stations. Until such a time that investment will be available for establishing Jetty-side or floating CNG refueling stations, mobile refueling platforms will provide the solution. Our partner BGM has been building marine-compliant mobile CNG refueling platforms for over a decade. Aside the fact that the Mobile Refueling Stations can refuel boats, they can also refuel vehicles that are being powered by CNG.

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