The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Transcorp Energy Ltd, Mr. Christopher Ezeafulukwe, has said that fortified structure and competent administrators should be activated for the actualisation of the objectives of the N10 billion Credit Access for Light and Mobility (CALM) Fund.
The fund is meant to foster the realisation of the objectives of the Federal Government concerning Compresses Natural Gas usage by Nigerians.
Ezeafulukwe advised that lessons should be learnt from mistakes of the past failed government intervention measures to guard against a recurrence with the current intervention fund.
He noted that there had been good intended laudable measures that were initiated but because of their implementation modalities, their objectives were not actualised.
The Federal Government had recently unveiled a N10 billion scheme to boost the conversion of about one million additional vehicles to CNG usage and the adoption of solar energy through the provision of consumer credit to income earners.
The Ministry of Finance Incorporated, (MOFI), Nigerian Consumer Credit Corporation, Credicorp, and the Presidential Initiative on Compressed Natural Gas, PICNG, had signed a deal to make N2.5 billion fund available to finance the conversion of vehicles to CNG by private individuals.
The fund, termed the Credit Access for Light and Mobility (CALM) Fund, is intended to provide affordable credit for Nigerians to obtain CNG conversion kits and other energysaving solutions.
Managing Director, MOFI, Dr. Armstrong Takang, explained that the intervention facility would assist Nigerians obtain loans through Participating Financial Institutions, PFIs, providing a pathway to sustainable energy without the financial burden of upfront costs.
According to him, MOFI will aggregate and expand the consortium fund, collaborating with private and institutional investors to grow the initial N10 billion fund.
Takang clarified that the scheme is one of the strategies activated by FG to address unintended consequences of subsidy removal which astronomically increased fares and increase electricity tariff for Band A customers.
Ezeafulukwe, in an interview with New Telegraph, over the weekend, also said information and orientation are necessary for more usage of CNG by Nigerians.
He said: “It is to make sure that the structure for its utilization is fortified and you have people of integrity to administer it and you make sure that checks and balances are in that structure that will ensure the proper utilization of the fund.
It is good intention and there are so many things in our country that come out of good intention but then in the implementation, things go wrong.
“So they need to learn from the previous initiatives that have failed to make sure that this time around, this is gotten right and we do not have stories of a failed initiatives this time around because a lot of Nigerians are looking forward to the succor that this CNG initiative will give to them given the increase in fuel pump price and the fact that the exchange rate also continues to be volatile and we do not even know how much more of increase that may happen in the course of next one year.
“So proper structures in place, people of integrity with credibility to manage it and serious sanction as well as set – ting examples with anybody who tries to deviate from the intended purposes of the fund.”
He added: “To make for more CNG penetration, information is important. Orientation. Nigerians need to know that this is available. They need to know the impact of this. They need to know the benefit that they have to key into the transitioning.
“So it when people know that they will go for it. You do not miss what you do not know. You go for what you know. It is when people know, then they position themselves. Secondly is there is the need for critical massive outreach.”