By Adedapo Adesanya
The cost of refilling a 5kg to 12kg cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), popularly known as cooking gas, has more than doubled in the last 12 months, indicating more pressure on the cost of living for Nigerians.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in its Price Watch for August 2022, said the price of cooking gas increased by 101.17 per cent in the last year.
The bureau said Taraba State residents paid the highest amount as it recorded the highest average price for refilling a cooking gas cylinder, with Katsina State being the lowest.
The NBS said, “The average retail price for refilling a 5kg Cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (cooking gas) increased by 1.34 per cent on a month-on-month basis from N4,397.68 recorded in July 2022 to N4,456.56 in August 2022.
“On a year-on-year basis, this rose by 101.17 per cent from N2,215.33 in August 2021.
“On state profile analysis, Taraba recorded the highest average price for refilling a 5kg Cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) with N4,925.44, followed by Adamawa with N4,920.00, and Lagos with N4,782.50.
“On the other hand, Katsina recorded the lowest price with N4,020.00, followed by Ogun and Yobe with N4,057.14 and N4,078.46 respectively.”
The agency further said the average retail price for refilling a 12.5kg cylinder of LPG increased by 0.77 per cent on a month-on-month basis from N9,824.07 in July 2022 to N9,899.34 in August 2022.
“On a year-on-year basis, this rose by 119.26 per cent from N4,514.82 in August 2021,” it stated, adding that Ebonyi State recorded the highest average retail price for the refilling of a 12.5kg cylinder of LPG with N11,225.00 whilst Katsina State recorded the lowest average price with N8,150.00.”
Despite plans to boost gas supply, Nigeria has not been able to attain its plan to boost domestic gas supply. It has embarked upon many initiatives, including the National Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP).
NGEP is designed to provide framework and policy support to extend the gas supply and utilisation in power generation, gas-based industries and emerging niche gas sectors.
One expected development is to boost gas in transportation, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) for cooking, and remote virtual gas supply using trucks to convey LNG and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to industries.
The other initiatives include the Ajaokuta-Abuja-Kano gas pipeline to support five billion cubic feet per day of domestic gas utilisation in the near term and five-Gigawatt power generation.
Modupe Gbadeyanka