A cross section of stakeholders and investors in the importation and distribution of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) have called for more patronage and participation in the market which according to them has not witnessed impressive patronage over the years.
The LPG which also includes domestic gas otherwise known as the cooking gas is one of the several products realised from the crude oil and it is mostly for domestic use. But stakeholders have lamented that it has experienced low level of patronage due to low level of awareness.
An investor, Mr. Onyeze Oyemma who is the chief executive officer of Sir Onyeze Gas investment limited told Shipping Position Weekly last week that despite the sworn commitment and drive of the federal government towards making gas available for domestic as well as feedstock for power and industrial purposes, consumers still lack the information concerning the advantages embedded in using the LP gas.
“People believe it is only the rich that can use the product because the lowest cylinder costs nothing less than N3,000, so some people prefer to get kerosene at N100 rather than to spend that on gas and this price difference has affected the patronage” he said
Onyeze pointed out that the political challenge facing government initially is how to get the gas to the end users, but now that it is available, patronage is not impressive because people prefer to use the DPK for domestic activities.
According to him, “the widely – held believe is that gas is a dangerous product because they believe havocs can be caused at anytime, well I can tell you that it is only for those careless ones, it still remains the fastest means of cooking”
Continuing, he said that even at the ports where the vessels are expected, preferential treatment is accorded to the PMS, DPK and other products more than the LPG which according to him should be checked by the government in other to encourage investors.
Corroborating, another stakeholder who works with Vineegas Energy Limited but who craved anonymity told our correspondent that despite the fact that the price of LPG is stable, the patronage is not high compared to other products. “Last year, we experienced scarcity and this is because of the state of our refinery, sometimes the refinery used abroad to refine the product makes it to smell foul” he added
He however appealed to the gas directorate that has been established in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to support investors, he also suggested a reduction in the price of domestic gas.
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