FG committee set up to crash cooking gas prices in under a week
Some reasons that have motivated the rising cost of cooking gas have reportedly been inaccessible FX and the focus on exports over the local demand.
Cries coming from marketers over the pricey value of Liquefied Petroleum Gas have now reached federal officials as households and businesses approach the Christmas holiday.
It is happening as a September projection by the Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers about cooking gas entering the deep red by year-end looks closer to a possibility.
According to the organisation, the price of refilling a 12.5kg cylinder might reach a sum of ₦18,000 in December without any governmental intervention. The anticipated intervention finally arrived through the action of the Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Gas), Mr Ekperikpe Ekpo, setting up a committee that would arrive at quick solutions in just a week.
The committee’s sole purpose, based on a spokesperson Louis Ibah’s statement, is to crash cooking gas prices for the benefit of every Nigerian. A recent meeting initiated by the minister at the NNPC Towers in Abuja ensured the birth of the committee.
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It featured Chevron Nigeria Limited’s representative, Sansay Narasimi; and the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Farouk Ahmed as well as top Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited execs.
“With the exponential increase in the price of LPG, there is the need for the Federal Government to intervene and I [MINISTER] am representing this at this moment.
“We acknowledge that some producers are exporting while we are faced with the challenges of importation.
“Public interest is the overriding interest all over the world for the government, and the demand for LPG will increase as we approach December; you have a public service obligation to collaborate with the government to ensure the security of gas supply. We need to therefore bend backwards and find solutions, to ensure that we have sufficient supply and stability in-country and that Nigerians have gas.”
Some reasons that have motivated the rising cost of cooking gas have reportedly been inaccessible FX and the focus on exports over the local demand.
Ayodelé is a Lagos-based journalist and the Content and Editorial Coordinator at Meiza. All around the megacity, I am steering diverse lifestyle magazine audiences with ingenious hacks and insights that spur fast, informed decisions in their busy lives.
