There are indications that the Federal Government may be planning to effect an impressive increase in the volume of consumption of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) otherwise known as cooking gas in the country soon.
This declaration might not be unconnected to the fact that recently there has been a hike in the prices of kerosene where a liter of kerosene known as the Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK) was sold at an average price of N130.
This hint was dropped in Lagos last week by the Managing Director of the Nigerian Liquefied and Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) Mr. Chima Ibeneche when he visited the facilities of NIPCO Plc. in Apapa.
It will be recalled that the President of the Nigerian Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association, Alhaji Auwalu Ilu had told Shipping Position Weekly correspondent recently that the consumption rate of cooking gas in the country currently stood at 70,000 metric tonnes per annum, but according to Mr. Ibeneche government has declared its intention to increase the consumption to one million metric tonnes per annum.
According to the NLNG boss, the proposed increase in the volume of consumption is still not adequate as it only translates into 100,000 units of 12.5kgs of cylinder saying that “it is grossly inadequate for a country with a population of 150 million people and a sorry state for a country credited with 180 trillion cubic feet worth of gas”.
Also, the LP gas association had also confirmed that less than two percent of Nigerians are using the cooking gas despite all efforts aimed at higlighting the advantages of the product, the association had attributed the shortage to the high start up cost of using it and maintaining the refill as well as the availability of cylinders and the logistics of circulation.
Some consumers however bared their minds to our correspondent in Lagos last week about the proposed increase in gas consumption by the government. One of them; a petroleum tanker chieftain explained that “as far as I am concerned, there is no difference in the two products for now, they are both expensive, so what is the need, I use gas in my house and the 12.5kg only last me two weeks before my wife ask for money to refill again, so it’s more or less the same with kerosene”.
Another stakeholder who is a trader complained that “kerosene is an essential commodity, it is central to our living as wives, gas is for the rich folks and rich madams, let government reduce the cost of kerosene, this is what we are used to”.
Our source explained that many people in the sub-urban areas have now been forced back to embrace the use of firewood for cooking as a result of the hike in the price of kerosene and gas.
Discussion about this post