Dealer Expresses Fear Of Cooking Gas Scarcity During Christmas

Amidst high price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), popularly known as cooking gas, it is feared that Nigerians would will experience scarcity of cooking gas during the forthcoming  Yuletide if things do not take a turn for good.
According to information making the rounds, importers of LPG are said to have stopped importing the commodity as landing costs skyrocket.
Current market prices of the product in the country show that the  prices of the product have shut up from N4,200 per 12.5kg as at June this year has now gone up to above N10, 000 since October, which validates earlier warning by marketers, and their plea for the federal government to put a handle on the precarious  situation before it got out of control.
According to the Station Manager, SunGas Limited, Port Harcourt, Mr Tobi Dapo, in a chat with The Tide, the country would be thrown into serious trouble if the marketers, who are the largest suppliers of the product, did not resume importation in the shortest time.
Dapo noted that presently, the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Limited, NLNG only supplies 40 percent of market share, while the independent marketers make up the remaining 60 percent through importation, saying, “I fear for what will happen during this Christmas” and called on the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva to urgently take steps to curb the skyrocketing price of LPG in Nigeria.
In a related matter, the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers, (NALPGAM), Mr. Bassey Essien, last week had said the cause of halt in importation, and price increment was due to the reintroduction of customs duty and Value Added Tax on According to him, if the halt in LPG imports should drag further, the supply of the commodity domestically could suffer severe hitch.
Essien stated that due to the fears expressed by importers who had stopped importation of LPG into the country, cooking gas sourced from the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas company was now selling in the region of N11m per 20 metric tonnes truck.
This, he said, was with a cumulative daily increase of N300,000 to N500,000 per 20MT truck without the imposition of VAT and customs duties.
Furthermore, Essien said, “The NLNG supplies LPG to the terminals and these terminals sell to the marketers and at times in a day, the price can go up by about three times.

By: Tonye Nria-Dappa