The price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (cooking gas) has skyrocketed from N700/kg in June 2023 around when President Bola Tinubu assumed office to N1,500/kg in October 2024, The PUNCH reports.
This represents about a 114 percent increase within 16 months.
Our correspondent gathered that the increase in LPG is connected to the rising exchange rate as the product is priced in dollars.
The devaluation/floating of the naira by the Tinubu administration has left the naira in free fall, now trading at about N1,700 to a dollar from less than N700 in May 2023.
According to the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of NIPCO Plc, Suresh Kumar, over 60 percent of the cooking gas consumed in Nigeria is imported.
Speaking at the just-concluded National Conference of the Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers 2024, held in Lagos, Kumar revealed that local production of LPG remains inadequate, urging the Federal Government to encourage Chevron to convert more of its propane output into propane.
“Currently, less than 40 percent of the 1.5 million metric tonnes consumed domestically is produced locally. This is why the government must encourage companies like Chevron to convert more of their propane output into butane, which is more suitable for domestic use,” he explained.
