In separate meetings yesterday, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Rt. Hon. Ekperikpe Ekpo, hosted members of the Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN) and Women in Energy, Oil and Gas at his NNPC Towers office in Abuja.
A statement by Ekpo’s spokesman, Louis Ibah, quoted him as commending the women for braving the odds to venture into fields and disciplines hitherto considered exclusive to the male gender and for leaving indelible imprints in the Nigerian engineering, energy, oil, and gas sectors.
The Minister, who promised to participate in upcoming seminars, workshops, and awareness campaigns of the women’s groups, implored them as professionals abreast with the benefits of using gas as a cleaner, safer, cheaper, and environmentally friendly fuel, to take up the task of enlightening other less informed women to embrace CNG and LPG as vehicular and cooking fuels.
Ekpo said: “As professionals, you are in a better position to preach the gospel of natural gas to other women in our country. Tell them about the health, environmental, and economic benefits of gas and why they should transition from charcoal, firewood, and kerosene to LPG. If they spend N40,000 to fuel their car with petrol, it will take N10,000 to fuel the same car with CNG and still accomplish the same journey. So, gas is more economical than petrol. The challenge that we have is with the conversion kits, and we are working to ensure the availability of these kits at affordable costs in all nooks and crannies of the country.”
