Kerosene, Firewood Usage to Phase-out Soon—–LPG Operators

There are indications that the Federal Government may have instituted a policy that will ensure that Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK) and firewood are no longer depended upon by Nigerians for cooking, especially for those in poorer households.
President of the association that have always been in the forefront of the crusade for the use of LPG, Nigeria Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association, Alhaji Auwalu Ilu confirmed this development in a chat with Shipping Position Daily correspondent in Lagos last week.

There are indications that the Federal Government may have instituted a policy that will ensure that Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK) and firewood are no longer depended upon by Nigerians for cooking, especially for those in poorer households.
President of the association that have always been in the forefront of the crusade for the use of LPG, Nigeria Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association, Alhaji Auwalu Ilu confirmed this development in a chat with Shipping Position Daily correspondent in Lagos last week.
Auwalu said that at a National Strategy Policy review which took place last year December in Abuja, stakeholders in the petroleum industry in collaboration with the Federal Government have commenced drafting of a new policy to phase out kerosene and firewood usage and replace them with Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) otherwise known as cooking gas.
According to him, the proposed policy is simply tagged; ‘National Strategic Policy for LPG’ and it has a five-year timeline to tactically phase out kerosene usage in the country.
Auwalu could not however confirm if the policy has been submitted to the Federal Executive council as planned, but he confirmed that, “at a summit we had in Abuja on the 21st to 23rd December last year, the federal government is planning on how to tactically put an end to the use of firewood and kerosene to pave way for the use of LPG which is safer and cheaper”.
Our correspondent further gathered that the project will consist of the provision of free or low cost starter kit of cylinder, basic appliances and fuel, apart from this, there would be phased reduction in kerosene subsidy and simultaneous reduction in kerosene supply and an increase in LPG supply.
The decision to phase out the use of kerosene and firewood is also as a result of findings which have shown that Nigeria is ranked among the lowest consumers of LPG in Africa; the country has an LPG national consumption rate of 110,000 metric tonnes per annum.
The need for the new policy has also been hinged on the need to open up the Nigerian LPG market for better energy utilization and economic growth.