Prices of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, (LPG), also known as cooking gas, are again on the rise after declining at the beginning of the year.
Current market prices revealed an increment of up to N1,000 for 12.5kg, and N80 for 1kg within the last two weeks. Within Lagos and neighbouring States, 12.5kg is now being sold for N8,500 from N7,500, while in the North, South-East, and South-South, the price has increased to N9,000/N9,500 from N8,000/N8,500.
Depot’s prices also increased significantly as 20 metric tons of cooking gas is now being sold for N11 million as against N10 million.
The NUPENG branch of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Retailers Association, in response, decried the price increase across the country.
Chairman of the association, Chika Michael Umude, described the situation as worrisome, noting that the increase of the product is now on a daily basis in both depots and retail outlets.
In an issued statement, Umudu said, “the union expects the government to come up with clear policy direction for the development of LPG in the country to forestall the ugly situation.
“LPG, as clean energy, has steadily been embraced by low income-earning Nigerians in the last seven years, as against previous years when it was seen as the preserve of the rich.
“The branch union considers as an irony that such price rises are happening at the time when the government is, through policy statements, assuring Nigerians of an adequate supply of the product at affordable prices”, he said.
Recall that between December 2020 and early months of 2021, the Federal Government, through its various programmes, launched a gas expansion programme often tagged: ‘Gas Decade’, aimed at not only making LPG available to all Nigerian homes irrespective of income level, but also to expand the use of gas for other purposes such as automobile and public/private electric generation.
He explained that enabling infrastructure would have been in place before the launch of the ‘Gas Decade’ initiatives in 2020.
However, according to the union, “This is not equally good at this time, when efforts should be at the top gear to expand the use of LPG in the country as a means of reducing environmental pollution, deforestation and desertification.
“We, therefore, charge the government to revisit its gas expansion programme and to involve all stakeholders in the process. The branch union also decries the situation where gas produced in Nigeria is priced in dollars.
“Similarly, the branch union believes that more local production should be encouraged to minimise if not to eliminate importation”, he stated.
Umudu also noted that the branch union considers as unfortunate a situation where major marketers, including the IOCs, are prioritising retailing and related activities against their expected major role, which is production.
