The Federal Ministry of Youth Development has announced the launch of its Compressed Natural Gas e-portal for youths in the commercial transport sector, interested in operating CNG-powered tricycles across the country.
The Minister of State for Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, announced the launch at a press conference in his office on Monday.
Media reports that the Federal Government, through the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative, and the Youth Ministry, on October 1 flagged off the distribution of 2,000 CNG-powered tricycles to empower Nigerian youth.
In his address during the flag-off event, the Project Director of the Presidential Initiative on CNG, Michael Oluwagbemi, said the distribution of the tricycles marked the fulfilment of promises made by President Bola Tinubu to reduce the cost of transportation, enhance economic well-being, enhance the environment through the utilisation of clean fuel, and create jobs for the youth population, through the introduction of CNG.
Speaking on Monday, Olawande explained that the portal aimed to build transparency around the process of enlisting young Nigerians into the Presidential CNG initiative programme in the transport sector.
“Through the portal, youth anywhere from across Nigeria can sign up to be merged with aggregators or owners who work directly with the PiCNG programme, while beginning the process of becoming owners themselves.
“In simple terms, what we aim to achieve with the youth portal we are about to launch is to build transparency around the process of enlisting youth into the Presidential CNG Initiative in the transportation sector”.
“What this means is that we are opening the process, and any young person willing and ready to take advantage of the program can participate. This is consistent with the aspiration of President Ahmed Tinubu, who desires that all government programmes and initiatives of government offer the same level of opportunity to everyone, either rich or poor, low or high.”
He used the opportunity to call on all youth who work within the commercial transportation sector, or those who have an interest in joining the sector to enlist for the benefits provided through the PiCNG as a significant component of the palliative programme of the President.
The minister urged interested youths to visit the portal on www.youthcng.ng or www.pci.gov.ng/tricycle to register to be part of the CNG programme.
Also speaking, the Programme Director and Chief Executive Officer of the PCNGi, Michael Oluwagbemi, represented by Mr Tosin Coker, described CNG as “the future of the nation” just like the youth, adding that the program was not just a handout to the youth, but a
“Indeed, CNG is the future of Nigeria, just as the youth are the future of this nation. By embracing CNG, we are building a cleaner environment for our nation as we move away from PMS and Diesel. We are also saving the nation in terms of the cost that is typically spent on subsidies on petrol and bankrupting the country for so long now.
“So, we are doing something necessary for the betterment and the safety and security of this country. So, what we are doing here is not just a handout, it is something deeper. As I mentioned, the youth are our future, it behoves all of us to do what we can for them”, he said.
