By Ogaga Ariemu
Amid the quest for a solution to the effect of fuel subsidy removal, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has announced plans to install charging ports across its filling stations nationwide to charge electric vehicles.
The Managing Director of NNPC New Energy Ltd, Kanayochukwu Odoe, disclosed this in NNPCL’s latest quarterly publication released Monday.
It also said the company is currently discussing with indigenous firms to boost the local production capacity of electric vehicles as part of moves to reduce carbon emissions.
Recall that removal of the fuel subsidy in June led to the increment in the pump price of the product from N197 per litre to over N500.
Consequently, removing fuel subsidies led to increased prices of transportation, goods and services.
“There are two things we are looking at. There is a start-up from Maiduguri that is into renewables and electric vehicles. It’s a Nigerian start-up.
“We are currently discussing with them to expand their capacity to meet local demand in Nigeria. Let’s invest not just because it’s our own but also because they are doing something that hasn’t been done before, at least in this part of the world. So, when we invest in the company, we can have a foothold in the electric vehicles market.
“The next part will be how to provide access to charging ports for electric vehicles. We have NNPC Retail stations scattered around Nigeria; we are currently discussing how to install charging points in the stations to serve electric vehicles. These are some of the things we are doing in that area.”
NNPC New Energy Ltd is the subsidiary of NNPCL involved in developing and advancing renewables by the national oil company.
That would be great.