Retailers ask FG to intervene over rising cost of cooking gas

The Liquefied Petroleum Gas Retailers Branch of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has asked the federal government to intervene over the rising cost of cooking gas. 

Chika Umudu, the NUPENG Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) retailers’ branch chairman, said this in a statement on Wednesday.

Umudu urged the government to intervene in view of the current erratic power supply and petrol scarcity. 

“The branch union decries the return of LPG price rise, which has led to an increment of up to N80 for 1kg within the last two weeks throughout the country,” he said. 

“Consequently, the price of the average size cylinder (12.5kg) is now being sold at about N8500 from N7500 two weeks ago in Lagos and neighbouring states.

“Similarly, in parts of Northern Nigeria, South-East and South-South, the price has risen to N9000/N9500 from N8000/N8500. Prices at the depots have similarly risen to about N11m for 20 metric tonnes from N10m and less sold about two weeks ago.”

He emphasised that the unsettling part of this development was that it continued to increase daily for weeks but began to escalate in the last one week leading to significant increases in depots and retail outlets.

“The union recalls that a similar price rise occurred in 2021 leading to the sale of 12.5kg gas up to thousand N10,000 in late November and early December 2021 amidst supply shortages,” he said.

“The union, therefore, expects the government to come up with clear policy direction for the development of LPG in the country to forestall the ugly situation.”

Umudu said LPG being clean energy had steadily been embraced by low-income earners in the last seven years.

He said the union considered the increase as an irony when the government was, through policy statements, assured Nigerians of an adequate supply of the product at affordable prices.

“Recall that between December 2020 and early months of 2021, the government through its various programmes inaugurated gas expansion programme often tagged ‘Decade of Gas’ 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,” Umudu said.

“It supposes that enabling infrastructure would have been in place before the inauguration, but the events immediately after the inauguration prove the contrary.

“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.”

The union, therefore, charged the government to revisit its gas expansion programme to involve all stakeholders.