Nigeria holds a Low Sulphur Fuels and Global Fuel Economy Initiative Project Launch Workshop in Abuja, Nigeria

Nigeria has been on a journey of adopting cleaner fuels for the last few years. This process has resulted in the drafting of standards for clean fuels. In addition, the country now needs to consider the vehicle policies so as to attract the import/production and use of cleaner and efficient vehicles. To this end, a workshop was held on 24 - 25 April 2018 to discuss the implementation plan for low sulphur fuels as well as launch the Global Fuel Economy Initiative in Nigeria. The event was organized by the Federal Ministry of Environment, the National Automotive Design and Development Council, and the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment in collaboration with UN Environment. 

The workshop which was opened by the Honourable Minister for Environment represented by the Permanent Secretary was attended by 135 participants drawn from key stakeholders in the transport sector including line ministries, departments and agencies, the ECOWAS commission, UN Environment, civil society, academia and media.

Participants made several recommendations including; awareness creation and sensitization on low sulphur fuels and Global fuel economy initiative in Nigeria be encouraged and supported, the Federal Government introduces economic instruments to be subjected to all vehicles based on mileage, age and fuel type,  Federal Ministry of Environment and the National Automotive Development and Design Council were encouraged to introduce favourable fiscal policies to promote, the import, production and use of electric vehicles and other energy efficient vehicles. The UN Environment was also requested to assist on the transition efforts to cleaner fuels and vehicles in a harmonized manner.

It will be recalled that Nigeria suspended the implementation of the national standards for cleaner fuels in 2017. As a way forward, in July 2018, there will be a cabinet meeting where the revised national standards on petroleum products are expected to be endorsed paving way to their implementation. In addition, the GFEI project team will now embark on vehicle fleet data collection and characterization for baseline setting.