Nigerians across the country are currently grappling with the realities of dealing with the non-availability of cooking gas as the price of the commodity keeps skyrocketing.
The black market price of 12.5KG cooking gas now sells between ₦13,500 and ₦14,000 while gas plants sell the commodity between ₦1,100-₦1,200 per 1kg.
Residents of Abuja, Lagos, Katsina, Sokoto, Delta, Kaduna and Kano are currently trying to find alternatives for cooking as the product has remained scarce as marketers have lamented non-availability.
According to the President, Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers, Oladapo Olatunbosun, there is currently,a scarcity of cooking gas supply in Lagos state.
“In my own gas plant, I sell at ₦950 per 1kg. So, by all means, the masses should try not to patronise those that don’t have gas plants because they will also add their profit. Those people are also part of the problem we are facing in the country.” He added.
Olatunbosun had in July, predicted a price hike in LPG prices from mid-August 2023. According to him, the effects of the rising international prices, high tax rates, high prices of vessels, forex scarcity, and naira devaluation were responsible for the price increment in the price of cooking gas.
Findings by The Punch revealed that in Kaduna, the retail price of 5 kilograms of cooking gas went for as high as ₦5,500.
According to the latest cooking gas price report from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) the average price of 5kg of cooking gas skyrocketed from ₦4,115.32 recorded in August 2023 to ₦4,189.96 in September 2023.
In the neighbouring Kano state, it was noticed that residents engaged in panic buying as the product was not available at the time of purchase.
It was also observed that the retail price of 12.5kg cooking gas increased by 0.35% from ₦9,162.11 in July 2023, to as high as ₦9,194.41 in August 2023.
Abuja residents have decried the rising cost of the product having confirmed there was a sharp increase in the price of the commodity as 12.5 kg of cooking gas was sold at ₦12,500 on November 2.
Marketers, however, tied the cost of LPG to the exchange rate between the Naira and the Dollar. The increasing cost of cooking gas has been linked to the continuous weakening of the Naira against the Dollar.
Terminal owners have also defended their operations as they attributed the increasing costs to the rising prices of forex and increasing prices of crude oil at the international market.