2 weeks Ago By David Meshioye
The Federal Government has clarified the safety of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) following the ban by the Malaysian government on Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) vehicles. According to the government, CNG is safe and secure as opposed to LPG. Besides, the Malaysian government has announced plans to phase out the use of CNG for vehicles and end the sale of natural gas vehicles (NGV) in the country.
Minister of Transport, Loke Siew Fook, spoke at a press conference recently, according to Free Malaysia Today (FMT), a local media organisation. In Malaysia, CNG is referred to as NGV. Fook said CNG-powered vehicles can no longer be registered or be used in Malaysia from July 1, 2025.
In a reaction to the announcement, the federal government through the spokesperson of President Tinubu, Bayo Onanuga, in a statement, said the Malaysian issue speaks more to the safety of LPG not the safety of CNG. In the original report, government transport minister Anthony Loke said: “There are also some car owners who have modified their vehicles using liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders, which are very dangerous.” Onanuga said the report also spoke about the safety of 15-year-old CNG cylinders.
According to him, NGV covers both CNG and LPG. Nigeria in its transition has adopted CNG only not both because of LPG valid safety and cost concerns. He said Malaysia had an unsuccessful transition away from costly and dirtier petrol and diesel.
Onanuga said conversion of 45,000 vehicles in 15 years (less than 0.2%) is not enviable unlike India, China, Iran and Egypt. He said the end of a 15-year CNG tank cycle means they need to replace tanks and it was easier/cheaper to scrap their programme and continue with their petrol than to do so if they had not built tank manufacturing capacity which Nigeria is already developing in year one.
.
