It was supposed to be the decade of gas for Nigerians as soon as former president, Muhammadu Buhari made the declaration on Monday, 29 March 2021. That moment up until 2030, was the set window through which Nigeria’s entire economy would run on gas to derive energy. So far, the citizens are not getting the benefit because of pricey cooking gas.

Nigerian LNG Limited is a gas production company catering to most of the local demand. In a statement released on Wednesday, it explained the cause of the sharp rise to be the result of “changes in exchange rates, and escalating price benchmarks mirroring crude oil prices”.

Also leading to the steep pricing regime is “the Panama Canal drought-induced vessel scarcity impacting transport costs, especially for imported LPG, have had [a] significant effect on energy prices in the recent times and could undoubtedly be some of the reasons for recent price hikes witnessed in the domestic market.”

However, the NLNG won’t relent in providing all the support that is needed to ensure optimal supply even though it does not control prices. The company consists of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) which owns 49%, then there is Shell Gas B.V. owning 25.6%; Total LNG Nigeria Limited has a 15% stake while Eni International retains 10.4%. All these point to capacity which is expected to lead to improvements in the long run.

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Speaking of this capacity in the statement, NLNG shared that it “has been making contributions to the domestic LPG market, spurring the steady growth of the nation’s DLPG market volume from less than 50,000 metric tonnes of imported LPG in 2007 to over 1.3 million metric tons of both domestic and imported LPG today.”

The company’s delivery of over 450,000 metric tonnes per annum of Butane, a key ingredient for blending liquefied natural gas as a fuel for consumption, strengthens its avowed commitment to making gas available to households.

But supply isn’t the problem for Nigerians – it is the high price that comes with the purchase that worries them. Around the middle of September, a warning came from the Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers who foresaw that a 12.5kg cylinder would cost ₦18,000 by year-end if the government fails to intervene.

According to its president, Mr Olatunbosun Oladapo, cooking gas prices were rising due to an “astronomically high” increment by terminal owners who were also blaming the FOREX crisis for the situation they had found themselves in. As of now, Nigeria’s current president Bola Tinubu is focused on tending to other issues arising such as workers’ salaries and sending aid to the poor. Hopefully, there is still time to align with what his predecessor started in terms of making the decade of gas truly beneficial to all.