NALPGAM will resist attempt to hike price of cooking gas, says Olatunbosun

Adebayo Obajemu

The National President of the Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers (NALPGAM), Mr. Oladapo Olatunbosun has said members of the union will not allow terminal owners to increase the price of the product due to high exchange rate of dollar to naira, which they claimed is hurting importation.

In a chat with Business Hallmark, he stated that there was no justifiable reason for Nigerians to be refilling their cooking gas cylinders at above N800 per kilogram(kg), given the harsh economic weather they are currently going through.

He noted that already importers, terminal owners, and off-takers are making super margins on the LPG commodity, without considering the purchasing power of the masses, which has been weakened by the rising rate of inflation.

In his view, the masses have been rendered helpless, having been made to bear the brunt of economic hardship, without regulatory interventions.

He stated that as stakeholders in the LPG value chain, his organization would not sit by and watch attempt to increase the terminal price of LPG above N12million per 20MT, without resistance, saying his members will do everything possible to resist such move.

He said, “As the National President of NALPGAM, representing thousands of members spread across the country, I have the sole responsibility of drawing the attention of all Nigerians to this devilish attempt by the terminal owners and LPG off-takers to impose economic untold hardship on them. The majority of my members were severely affected by the current price. Most of them are facing liquidity issues because of insufficient capital required to evacuate products from the terminals.

“The proposed hike is a capitalist tactic by the LPG cartels, who have ganged themselves up with the intention of declaring an economic war against the Nigerian masses. Nigerians have been sidetracked from using cooking gas. The masses have been denied access to the safest and cleanest energy solution.

“The annual consumption which used to be around 1.35 million metric tonnes per annum(mmtpa), has deeply declined to 800,000MT pa. Nigeria’s per capita consumption is very low compared to Egypt, Morroco, Libya, and Ghana other developing countries. This is despite having the largest proven gas reserves in Africa with over 209 trillion cubic feet and being the 9th largest in the world. The declining per capita consumption is attributed to the price, which is significantly above the reach of the Nigerian masses.”