{"id":70137,"date":"2025-07-10T05:27:38","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T05:27:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=70137"},"modified":"2025-07-10T05:27:38","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T05:27:38","slug":"suspended-partner-trying-to-blackmail-pcngi-program-remains-on-track-coordinator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2025\/07\/10\/suspended-partner-trying-to-blackmail-pcngi-program-remains-on-track-coordinator\/","title":{"rendered":"Suspended Partner Trying to Blackmail PCNGI, Program Remains on Track -Coordinator"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Adewunmi Oluwaseun<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Coordinator of the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (PCNGI), Mr Michael Oluwagbemi, has accused a suspended conversion center operator of attempting to blackmail the initiative in a bid to undermine its credibility and derail its progress.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking in an exclusive interview with TVC News, Oluwagbemi described the allegations leveled against PCNGI from certain quarters as baseless, noting that they were part of a deliberate ploy by the disgruntled operator to smear the program following disciplinary actions taken against him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was caught diverting government kits and was duly sanctioned. I have never met him personally, but we have strong internal checks, audits, and red flag systems.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is not the first operator to be sanctioned and it certainly won\u2019t be the last,\u201d Oluwagbemi stated.<\/p>\n<p>He condemned what he called attempts by \u201cbusybodies and fifth columnists\u201d to politicize the situation and cast aspersions on the initiative\u2019s reputation, emphasizing that the program is focused on integrity and delivering results.<\/p>\n<p>According to the coordinator, the suspended operator has also made misleading claims about pricing, suggesting that the program inflated costs.<\/p>\n<p>Oluwagbemi dismissed the claim, explaining that PCNGI does not handle procurement directly, as that function is carried out by the Federal Ministry of Finance in line with the Executive Order establishing the initiative.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the green economy, prices drop over time due to innovation and volume. Solar panels and batteries are cheaper now than they were years ago. It\u2019s the same for CNG conversion kits,\u201d he explained. \u201cIf prices have fallen between 2023 and 2025, that doesn\u2019t mean there was inflation; it means the market is working.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He maintained that the PCNGI remains committed to promoting clean, affordable, and sustainable transportation for Nigerians, adding that the initiative will not be distracted by smear campaigns or unfounded allegations.<\/p>\n<p>According to him, the initiative&#8217;s mandate is clear; to deliver a reliable alternative to petrol and diesel through CNG and electric vehicles.<\/p>\n<p>He assured that PICNG will continue to police the value chain, uphold transparency, and protect the integrity of the national program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Adewunmi Oluwaseun The Coordinator of the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (PCNGI), Mr Michael Oluwagbemi, has accused a suspended conversion center operator of attempting to blackmail the initiative in a bid to undermine its credibility and derail its progress. Speaking in an exclusive interview with TVC News, Oluwagbemi described the allegations leveled against PCNGI [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":70138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[59,1707],"class_list":["post-70137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-featured","tag-picng"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70137"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70139,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70137\/revisions\/70139"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}