Cooking gas marketers predict price hike, give reasons

By Ezurike Ugochukwu

If recent predictions and trajectories in the pricing of petroleum products are anything to go by, Nigerians are in for another series of increase in cooking gas and Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as fuel in the coming week, as the Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers(NALPGM) as well as the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria(IPMAN) have revealed.

In a release by the President of NALPGM, Olatunbosun Oladapo, said this was as a result of rising international prices, high tax rates and prices of vessels, forex scarcity, and naira devaluation as some of the reasons for the intended price review.

Oladapo

“It is starting next week because international prices have gone up. The prices of vessels have gone up and taxes are high, but consumers are not earning more.

“Their purchasing power has gone down. Everybody is crying. Consumers, middlemen, and retailers are feeling the impact because business is now on the low side,” he said.

The looming price increase Olatunbosun described as really unfortunate and a reality that has to be faced.

“The situation is very unfortunate because prices are going higher. Nigerian consumers are passing through very difficult times because they can no longer afford gas,” he added.

He expressed concern that as an alternative, consumers are now returning to firewood, charcoal, and sawdust for cooking which is not good for the country.

“The government should come in and alleviate the suffering of the masses by providing palliatives, reducing taxes and levies.

“You can imagine that for every 1kg of gas priced at N700, tax would take way N3.50. How much is left in such a business?” he continued.

He urged the government to tax profit and not products because consumers were not buying gas anymore.

“Local taxes are worsening the problem,” he said, calling on marketers who had the opportunity to buy products locally to fix prices with “consumers’ sympathy” in mind.
research has shown that LPG delivers substantial health, economic, and social benefits. Due to its low carbon-to-hydrogen ratio, LPG – a mixture of two hydrocarbons, butane and propane – contributes little to global warming.

To stop the incessant hike in price, Bala Zakka, an oil and gas analyst, not long ago stated that Nigerian leaders must accept that internal refining and domestication of refineries is the only sustainable way forward. “The refusal to accept this is the principal reason why Nigeria is experiencing all these,”

Has being flared

Nigeria is ranked ninth globally, as it has the largest proven gas reserve in Africa. Nigeria’s’s gas reserve is so large that analysts claim its flared gas alone can power Trinidad and Tobago, a country with a population of 1.4 million people, for a year.