Expert Charges FG On Cooking Gas

The President, Nigerian
Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association (NLPGA), Mr Dayo Adeshina, last Thursday urged the Federal Government to formulate a policy to promote the use of cooking gas in the hinterlands.
Adeshina told newsmen in Lagos that collaboration between government and stakeholders on the cooking gas campaign would reduce deforestation and desert encroachment.
He said that in spite of  the ease with which some rural dwellers adopted new technology, quite a number of people still depended on firewood and charcoal for domestic cooking.
According to Adeshina, statistics show that in Nigeria, 112 million people still cook with firewood, kerosene, and traditional bio-fuel and more than 90 per cent of this number are rural dwellers.
“Data also showed that 90 per cent more wood than necessary is burnt, which has contributed to the build-up of green house gases and deforestation,’’ the NLPGA boss said.
Adeshina said that in spite of years of campaign against deforestation, many Nigerians could not come to terms with the dangers inherent in felling trees until the recent flooding which ravaged some states.
He said that several lives and properties were lost to the flood.
“Nigeria is a predominantly a gas province with untapped huge expanse of gas reserves in excess of 187tcf and an average production capacity of over three million metric tonnes per annum.
“But in spite of this huge endowment, Nigeria regrettably has the lowest Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) consumption in Africa.
“Nigeria averagely spends about N345 billion on kerosene subsidies yearly and increased use of LPG will reduce the amount and also reduce the damage done to the environment through the use of fire wood,” Adeshina said.
He said that for massive use of LPG in the rural areas, government should  approve some public and private companies with the capacity to produce the commodity.
Adeshina also said that the regulation of the price of LPG should be the responsibility of the government.
He said that if government could encourage the use of LPG, it would reduce the huge foreign exchange spent on kerosene annually.
The expert said that some of the challenges confronting LPG consumption in the country included the decline in demand for the product; roadside LPG cylinder to cylinder transfer and lack of specific regulations.
He said that there was also the problem of high cost of LPG procurement by the common man.
Adeshina suggested that government should come up with a law that LPG cylinders should be marketed by approved big marketing companies.