The rise in prices of cooking gas also called Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) is linked to high inflation rate as well as an indication of failure by the federal government to implement strategies aimed at increasing supply chain disruption and maximising the country’s huge gas reserves.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the country’s high inflation rate, which was 32.15 per cent in August, has continued to impact the prices of energy, with the rates paid by Nigerians for cooking gas rising by as much as 70 per cent year-on-year.
According to data from NBS, the amount that Nigerians spent on filling their cooking gas tubes rose by 69.15 per cent during the period under review.
The minister of state for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, had some time ago said he would invite regulatory agencies and producers of LPG to address the current soaring prices of the product in the country.
This was just as the federal government through the Decade of Gas Secretariat and some partners distributed 250 fully-filled LPG cylinders to underserved households in Lagos State.
The exercise was in line with the government’s annual target of converting 250,000 homes to clean cooking gas in all the 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Nigeria by 2030.
Speaking on the sidelines of the kick-off of the LPG Grassroots Penetration and Cylinder Distribution Programme for the South-West Zone, Ekpo confirmed that the price of cooking gas had gone up, saying he would invite the stakeholders to resolve it.
The price per kilogramme of LPG has skyrocketed, with a 12.5-kg cylinder now being filled with as high as N16,200, up from about N13,500 sold last month.
“I just got that information this morning that the price of gas is getting up again. So, what I’m going to do is that I will invite the regulators and the producers and have a meeting with them. What we are looking for is to bring down the price of gas so that it will be affordable.
“In the energy security we are talking about, we are talking about affordability, availability. So we are going to do that. Whatever the reason behind the hike in price, we will make sure we bring it down.” Ekpo said.
Meanwhile, the NBS, in its data analysis said three states with the highest prices of the commodity during the period were those with some level of oil and gas production, including Rivers, Cross Rivers and Abia.
However, the lowest average price was recorded in Bauchi with N13,425.00, followed by Nasarawa and Adamawa with N13,640.94 and N13,725.00 respectively.
“The average retail price for refilling a 12.5kg Cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) increased by 9.05 per cent on a month-on-month basis from N14,261.57 in July 2024 to N15,552.56 in August 2024. On a year-on-year basis, this rose by 69.15 per cent from N9,194.41 in August 2023.
“On state profile analysis, Rivers recorded the highest average retail price for the refilling of a 12.5kg Cylinder of LPG with N17,086.36 followed by Cross River with N17,050.00 and Abia with N17,012.52,” the NBS data for August showed.
Conversely, the lowest average price was recorded in Bauchi with N13,425.00, followed by Nasarawa and Adamawa with N13,640.94 and N13,725.00 respectively.
Despite Nigeria announcing the removal of Value Added Tax (VAT) from the commodity since October last year, the prices of cooking gas have failed to drop considerably.
Nigeria has about 209 Trillion Cubic Feet (TCF) of gas under the ground, but the country is unable to fully explore the natural resource due to low investment in the sector.
Besides, the analysis by zone showed that the South-South recorded the highest average retail price for refilling a 12.5kg cylinder of cooking gas with N16,524.00, followed by the South-East with N16,495.78 while the North-Central recorded the lowest price with N14,767.41.
In addition, the average retail price for refilling a 5kg cylinder of cooking gas increased by 7.62 per cent on a month-on-month basis from N5,974.55 recorded in July 2024 to N6,430.02 in August 2024.
But on a year-on-year basis, this increased by 56.25 per cent from N4,115.32 in August 2023.
“On state profile analysis, Benue and Sokoto recorded the highest average price for refilling a 5kg of cooking gas with N7,000.00, followed by Rivers with N6,954.55, and Borno with N6,914.29.
“On the other hand, Taraba recorded the lowest price with N5,600.67, followed by Abuja and Kogi with N5,825.00 and N5,857.56 respectively.
“In addition, analysis by zone showed that the South-East recorded the highest average retail price for refilling a 5kg cylinder of LPG with N6,585.18, followed by the South-South with N6,451.34 while the North-Central recorded the lowest with N6,344.29,” the data showed.
Nigeria’s inflation rate has been on a rising trajectory in recent months, hitting as high as 34 per cent before dropping slightly to 32.15 per cent in August from 33.40 per cent in July of 2024.
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