The Federal Government on Tuesday at the inauguration of the autogas scheme in Abuja said motorists who run their vehicles on autogas will spend less fund in refilling their tanks than those using Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol.

Although it could not state by how much cheaper the product would be, the government insisted that it would be more economical to power automobiles using autogas rather than PMS.

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, and the Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mele Kyari, told journalists in Abuja that the autogas in question included Compressed Natural Gas and Liquefied Petroleum Gas.

Sylva, who inaugurated the autogas station of NNPC in Lugbe, Abuja, under the National Gas Expansion Programme and National Auto-gas Roll-out Initiative, stated that his ministry was working out the price for autogas.

“But I can assure you that it is cheaper than PMS,” the minister stated. He also inaugurated five buses that run on autogas and handed over the vehicles to the Nigeria Labour Congress, with a promise that about 100 more buses would be delivered to the labour union.

It was reported on Monday that the Federal Government would convert one million vehicles to run on autogas before the end of 2020.

The government stated that the NGEP event in Abuja on Tuesday heralded the formal dispensing of autogas products at filling stations, beginning with two retail outlets of the NNPC in Abuja.