The Liquefied Petroleum Gas Retailers (LPGAR) has appealed to the Federal Government to provide incentives to the LPG investors to make the price affordable.
Mr Ayobami Olarinoye, Branch National Chairman of LPGAR, made the appeal in an interview on Friday against the backdrop of incessant hike of cooking gas.
The President, Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers (NALPGAM), Mr Olatunbosun Oladapo, said that the price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, also known as cooking gas, has increased at terminals.
This was as a result of a sudden increment from N9 million to N10 million per 20 metric tons to N14 million per 20 metric tons.
According to Olarinoye, LPG price has recorded more 30 per cent increment in the last three weeks and likely to continue.
He attributed the development to off-takers and depot owners’ continuance to make upward review of the price almost on daily basis.
He said some LPGAR members had run out of stock because they could not restock their outlets as a result of the sharp increases.
The development, Olarinoye added, had brought untold hardship to Nigerians and due to the recent removal of subsidy.
“We are appealing to the Federal Government to provide incentives to the LPG investors to make the price affordable.
“Similarly, our union believes that the incessant rise in LPG price would be contained if more storage facilities are built by the major marketers and off-takers.
“We equally think that both states and federal governments should equally intervene in the way of building depots and maintaining the existing ones built by federal government,” he said.
The LPGAR chairman said that if this is done it would equally provide a leadway for non-major-marker off-takers to use the depots devoid of ‘commercial’ encumbrance.
He also appealed to the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG) to increase its production capacity to meet the rising demand of LPG.
“We believe that if NLNG transacts with their local LPG marketers in local currency that it would go a long way in reducing and of course stabilise the price.
“Already, the poor are going back to the traditional cooking energies which are detrimental to their health and the ecosystem,” Olarinoye explained.
Similarly, the NALPGAM President
called on the Minister of State Gas Resources and other government agencies to audit the volume of cooking gas supplied to the domestic market by NLNG.
He also called on government to determine the rate and quantity at which it is possible supplied.
Olatunbosun noted that Nigeria’s consumption of cooking gas had dropped to around 700,000 metric tons per annum in the last year.
This, according to him, it’s significantly lower than other countries such as Republic of Benin which consumes more cooking gas than in Nigeria.
