Nigerians are lamenting as the price of 12.5kg of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, (LPG), otherwise known as cooking gas rose from N3,800 in October 2020 to N7,500 in October 2021.
This represents a 97.37% increase in the 12 months. investigations showed that except urgent steps are taken to ease bottlenecks affecting the supply of LPG to consumers, the price of 12.5kg gas cylinder may hit N10,000 before December 2021.
Findings further showed that a 12.5kg cooking gas cylinder was sold in Lagos for N3,800 in October 2020, N4,500 in June and July 2021, N6,000 in September, and now N7,500 in many states, depending on locations.
The major fear among consumers and stakeholders is that the price may jump to N10, 000 soon unless urgent steps are taken to increase local production and improve supply to the market.
Some experts, who spoke with newsmen, blamed the price hike of LPG on the dearth of infrastructure, a global shortfall in gas supply, inadequate local production, shortage of Foreign Exchange devaluation of the Naira and logistic hitches.
Already, the current price hike has triggered the use of charcoal and kerosene stoves as alternatives by some residents in Lagos and Ogun States.
Most of these consumers who have been lamenting over the price hike narrated their harrowing experiences when interviewed.
They said they have found it difficult to cope with the price hike, thereby, alternating between the use of charcoal and kerosene stoves. Lamenting, a resident in Ojodu, Lagos, who identified herself simply as a trader, said that incessant hike in cooking gas price had affected other commodities in the market.
According to her, the situation has gone beyond control among people with low purchasing power, adding that she would not mind going back to the use of firewood and kerosene stoves if the price continues to rise.
Another resident said with the increase in the price of cooking gas, she only cooked once in a day and micro-waved the food with electricity in the evening.
For other residents in the neighbourhood, she said some now patronise charcoal and firewood dealers, without considering the health implications.
As of the time of filing this report, there was no solution in sight for the rising price of cooking gas, as the major supplier, the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), blamed marketers for their inability to offtake the full 450,000MTPA of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) allocated to the Nigerian market.
On the reasons for the price hike, the Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers (NALPGAM) has attributed the current rise in the price of LPG to inadequate supply of the product into the domestic market and the Federal Government’s re-imposition of Value-Added Tax (VAT) on imported LPG, among others.
The National Operations Controller, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Mike Osatuyi, blamed the situation on the market forces of demand and supply, pointing out that if gas is abundantly available, the price would come down.
The price of LPG in the domestic market is dependent on several market factors, including the forces of demand and supply”, he said.
