Featured, Oil & Gas
Consumers of cooking gas in Nigeria are happy now that the product is available and the price is down
By Anayo Ezugwu
NIGERIANS are happy about the drop in price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, fondly called cooking gas. They also expressed satisfaction that the product is available, especially during the last Christmas celebration.
Some of people who talked Realnews said the drop in the price of the commodity was a relief to consumers as they did not agonise over annual price increase and shortage of the product that usually characterise the festive period. Realnews checks at some filling stations and gas plants across Lagos showed that the 12.5kg of cooking gas, which sold for N4,000 in November 2018, now sells for between N3,500 and N3,800. While the 6 kg, which sold for N2,000 in November 2018, now goes for N1,800.
Yewande Adebiyi, cooking gas user, who expressed happiness over the drop in the price, said the arbitrary increase in the price of the commodity and the exploitation of its users by some gas dealers, especially during the Yuletide didn’t happen. She said the previous festive celebrations were always marred by price increase.
“The situation is quite different during this celebration; there was no financial pressure or stress searching for the product from one gas plant to another. In the last three years, the least you can get cooking gas during Yuletide is N5,500; but I was astonished when I refilled my gas with N3,500 in December, and also paid the same amount on Tuesday, January 8, to refill my second cylinder,” she said.
Another cooking gas user, Ezeine Okafor, a resident of Ketu, acknowledged that the price is dropping but said that as an essential commodity, the price is still on the high side at N3,500, adding: “More efforts should be made by the government to make it affordable to an average Nigerian.”
It is not only the consumers who are happy about the drop in the price of cooking gas. Sellers are also rejoicing because they are recording more sales now unlike when the product was scarce and its price high.
Adedeji Ogunmakin, station manager, Enyo Retail and Supply Limited, attributed the drop in price of LPG to improved supply and distribution of the product.
A retailer at Ajuwon Lagos, who gave his name as Chinedu, also attributed the decrease to the fact that it is readily available at the gas plants. “The price has dropped and I’m happy about it because some of my customers that had stopped patronising me are back now. The most important thing for me is that my customers are enjoying the drop in price and if the price continues to drop I’m sure more people will start using gas. And that means more business for us,” he said.
Confirming the drop in the price of the commodity is the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, in its December 2018 cooking gas price watch. The report published on its website stated that the average cost of refilling a 5kg cylinder decreased from N2,084.74 in November 2018 to N2,052.79 in December 2018.
The price of refilling a 5kg cylinder decreased by -1.53 percent month-on-month and -9.84 percent year-on-year in the period under review. According to the NBS, states with the highest average price for the refilling of a 5kg cylinder are Bauchi and Borno (N2,500.00), Katsina (N2,357.14) and Anambra (N2,330.77). It said states with the lowest average price for the refilling of a 5kg cylinder are Enugu (N1,748.46), Gombe (N1,733.33) and Ondo (N1,731.25).
Similarly, the NBS said the average price for the refilling a 12.5kg cylinder, however, increased from N4,242.26 in November 2018 to N4,332.06 in December 2018. It said the price increased by 2.12 percent month-on-month and 1.63 percent year-on-year in the period under review.
“States with the highest average price for refilling of a 12.5kg cylinder for cooking gas are Cross River (N4,846.15), Akwa Ibom and Delta (N4,766.67) and Abia (N4,742.86). Also, states with the lowest average price for refilling of a 12.5kg cylinder for cooking gas are Lagos, (N3,922.22), Oyo (N3,900.00) and Ogun (N3,862.50).”
to ensure that that the price does not increase again, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, is taking measures to further reduce the price. The corporation said it is set to implement effective commercial framework that would halt the export of propane and butane which are major components in the production of cooking gas
The corporation, in a press release by Ndu Ughamadu, group general manager, group public affairs division, NNPC, said the move to stop the export of propane and butane which is anchored by the Crude Oil Marketing Division of the corporation would enable the corporation boost supply of LPG to the domestic market thereby leading to a natural downward slide in the price of the product in the country.
The NNPC spokesman quoted Mele Kyari, group general manager, Crude Oil Marketing Division, COMD, of the Corporation, as saying: “Currently some of our butane and propane entitlements are exported largely due to lack of vessels to make sure that these things come into the domestic markets and the absence of a commercial framework. What we are going to do is to make sure we put the right commercial framework in place so that those exports are converted into domestic consumption”.
Kyari, who disclosed this at a strategy session said the division was working in concert with stakeholders to create the enabling environment for in-country production of LPG and cessation of export of the country’s equity butane and propane entitlements due to absence of in-country vessels for transport and other considerations.
– Jan. 18, 2018 @ 15:19 GMT |
Tags: Why Consumers of Cooking Gas are happy in Nigeria
