NAPGAM Explains Why FG Alone Cannot Halt Price Hike Of Cooking Gas

Responding to the Nigerians expectation for Federal Government intervention to halt the sustained increasing price of cooking gas, the Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers (NALPGAM) has adduced reasons the Federal Government alone cannot unilaterally take such decision.

Mr Bassey Essien, Executive Secretary, NALPGAM, made this known while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lagos.

Essien decried the increment in the price of LPG, also known as cooking gas in the past few months, noting that there was need to put in place a policy that would encourage full domestication of LPG.

He said: “The major issue we have with gas price is that majority of what we are consuming is imported.

“Over one million metric tonnes of gas was consumed by Nigerians in 2020 and about 65 per cent of the product was imported by marketers.

”So the price of gas is affected by what is happening in the global market because though Nigeria produces about four million metric tonnes of gas annually, only 350,000MT is allocated to the domestic market.

“Unfortunately, the government cannot increase the allocation to meet our full domestic demand without the buy-in of other partners of NLNG.”

Essien said the hike in the price of cooking gas was affecting the government’s National Gas Expansion Programme, which was aimed at deepening gas utilisation in Nigeria.

He noted that some users of LPG were gradually reverting to the use of kerosene and firewood with obvious health implications.

Marketers generally believe that it is not feasible for the government to unilaterally direct the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Company Limited (NLNG) to increase its domestic LPG allocation without the support of other stakeholders.

Experts are of the opinion that a considerable increase in domestic LPG allocation would translate to a reduction in the price of gas as against the current soaring price of the essential commodity.

NAN reports that the NLNG is an incorporated Joint-Venture owned by four shareholders.