The Kwara State University (KWASU) in the Malete area of Kwara State has announced a partnership with two Chinese companies to open a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) conversion site in the state.

KWASU Vice-Chancellor Prof. Jimoh Shaykh-Lukman disclosed this at a press conference in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, on Friday, November 1, 2024.

Shaykh-Lukman said the companies were Zhejiang Sinray Electronics Company and Jiaxing Keyuan Electronics Company Limited.

Shaykh-Lukman said the partnership was for the company to supply kits for the CNG conversion to avoid the use of substandard products that could cause an explosion.

He stated that the CNG conversion site would be done on a large scale for people to key into the initiative and save money.

The KWASU VC said the institution had worked towards reducing carbon emissions and ensuring a clean and green environment.

He revealed that KWASU engineers had successfully converted four fuel vehicles to electric and one to CNG.

Shaykh-Lukman said: “When we converted our first two vehicles to electronic, we approached Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, he was happy and supported us.

“Through his recommendations, the Ministry of Business Innovation and Technology has given us three vehicles to convert to electric and we have successfully converted two.

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“The governor also facilitated our taking over 22 vehicles from Kwara Express Transport firm to convert and we have started working on them.

“We just finished the conversion of one vehicle to CNG to use both petrol and gas.

“So, we are not just crashing into conversion, we have started it for a while now and we have seen the results already.”

Also speaking, the Chief Technologist of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Abdulazeez Akande, said the conversion was a renewable form of energy to address the issue of carbon emission.

Akande said: “We all know that there is depletion in the ozone layer due to the carbon emissions from vehicles.

“And unfortunately, the other challenge which is the price of petrol which has skyrocketed has forced people to park their vehicles.

“This CNG is an alternative to reduce our running costs on fuel because there is close to 80 per cent savings when using CNG compared to fuel.

“While the electric vehicle on the other hand is much better, it is just that it is a bit expensive to convert compared to CNG.”

He added that one kg of CNG could cover about 13 kilometres, which he said is more economical when compared to petrol.

The Star