With the rising prices of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, popularly called cooking gas, major dealers have stopped importation of the product.
Between January and October, the cost of the product has skyrocketed by 240 per cent for 12.5kg, jumping from N3, 000 to N10, 200.
About 65 percent of LPG is imported into Nigeria, while domestic production accounts for 35 percent.
If the stoppage of importation is sustained, the prices are set to rise even further, causing deeper hemorrhage in the economy.
The Executive Secretary, Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers, Bassey Essien, is of the view that the reintroduction of customs duty and Value Added Tax on imported LPG were the basic reasons for the halt in its imports by importers.
This came as NALPGAM in an open letter to the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, urged the minister to urgently intervene in the skyrocketing price of LPG in Nigeria.
The open letter was signed by the National President, NALPGAM, Olatunbosun Oladapo, and Essien. NALPGAM is the umbrella body of operators of LPG bottling plants licensed by the statutorily empowered government agencies to carry out the business of safe bottling of cooking gas.
Essien stated that due to the fears expressed by importers who had stopped importation of LPG into the country, cooking gas sourced from the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas company was now selling in the region of N11m per 20 metric tonnes truck.
He added, “The customs is even clamping down on importers and so they cannot import anything, which means that the product in circulation across the country is from the NLNG.
“But when there are issues like this, some unscrupulous people will want to capitalize on the situation, which they are doing, because right now, from what we’ve got, the price at which NLNG product gets to Lagos is about N7m, but you get it at N11m and above.”
