The National Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers (NALPGAM) has urged Nigerians to brace themselves for the reality of filling a 1-kilogram cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (cooking gas) at a rate between N1, 200 and N1, 500.
The marketers disclosed that major suppliers, deport and terminal owners have increased 20 Metric Tonnes (20MT) of the product from around N14 million to N16 million price despite lifting at N8.3 million/20MT from Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG).
The association’s president, Oladapo Olatunbosun, raised this alarm during a courtesy visit to the Chairman Senate Committee on Gas, Senator Jarigbe Jarigbe, in Abuja on Monday.
According to Olatunbosun, the Nigerian cooking gas market is facing a major challenge due to the unaffordability of cooking gas, which is caused by the profiteering tendencies of some individuals and groups that have formed themselves into a cabal determining prices that the product should be sold.
The NALPGAM President emphasised that the deliberate hike in the prices of cooking gas is a tragedy that required a national urgency. He said, “As at today (yesterday), domestic consumption of cooking gas in Nigeria is about nine hundred thousand (900) metric tonnes per annum, at maximum, while the minimum is 750,000MT/annum.
“NLNG has been consistent, but the cabal and capitalists are making it difficult for the poor masses to afford cooking gas. Today, 20 metric tonnes (MT) of LPG are released by NLNG to the suppliers at a little bit about 9 million, while it is sold to us (marketers) at the rate of N16.8 million/20MT.
“The cheapest price that retailers can get is N1200 per kg. How can a student or menial worker afford to cook a pot of beans with N1200 worth of gas? This is unjustifiable, considering the fact that the bulk of this product is locally sourced”, he further stated.
He, therefore, called on the Federal Government and the National Assembly to intervene by promptly investigating what he described as a dubious increment of the commodity by major suppliers, deport and terminal owners of the industry.
