Ogun State governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, yesterday, disclosed that the E-Mobility and Gas Mobility Programme of the state will take off in the first week of August.
he governor also said his administration would take advantage of the newly signed electricity bill by establishing a company that would generate and distribute power in the state.
Abiodun spoke, when he received participants of the Senior Executive Course 45, Group 1, of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Jos, who came on a courtesy call in his office, at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.
He said his administration would, in its second term, focus on provision of public utilities, including water and electricity supply.
The e-mobility and gas mobility initiative involves conversion of mass transit buses from running on petrol to gas, while motorcycles (Okada) go electric.
He said: “I am proud to say that in Ogun State, we have put in measures and plans to begin an energy transition plan, and we are going to start converting all our state buses to run on Compressed Natural Gas. That programme has already commenced and we are going to launch what we call our E-Mobility and Gas Mobility Programme sometime around the end of this month or first week in August.
“In gas mobility, we will convert not just our buses to operate on gas, but all mass transit will begin to operate on gas. E-mobility is a programme that will make all motorcycles and tricycles run on electricity. They will be battery-powered. We are going to launch that programme, either last week of this month or first week of next month.
“We will take motorcycles from riders and give them electric powered motorcycles. This programme will have a cushioning effect on what our masses are currently experiencing. And besides that, it will begin a new dispensation of clean energy, which speaks to the issue of climate change.”
The governor also said Ogun State is planning to generate its own electricity, following signing of the 2023 Electricity Bill into law by President Bola Tinubu on June 9.
He said: “We are going to take advantage of the constitutional amendment that has now removed power generation from the exclusive list and put it on the concurrent list. We will have our own generation company, state distribution company, and ensure we can provide more power to our major towns and cities. Once we are able to do that, the grid can be sufficient for our small towns.”
The governor further disclosed that his government has spent so much on rehabilitation of water works across the state, in its efforts at ensuring availability of potable water to the populace.
Speaking earlier, the team leader and the Director of Studies, Prof. (Mrs.) Oluwafunmilayo Para-Mallam, said the participants embarked on the study as mandated by the President, to research topical issues of national importance.
