Residents of Lagos have lamented the rising cost of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), popularly known as cooking gas, as prices continue to climb across the state.
NEWSNGR observed on Tuesday that some filling stations sold the product for between N1,500 and N1,600 per kilogramme, while retail outlets sold it for between N1,800 and N2,000 per kilogramme.
Speaking with NEWSNGR, a food vendor in the Ijaiye area of Lagos, who identified herself as Omolara, said the increase had significantly affected her business.
“I use gas to cook, and it has been very difficult for me to cope with the high cost,” she said.
“How will I sustain my business if I spend so much money on gas alone? It’s frustrating.”
She appealed to the Federal Government to intervene and reduce the cost of the product.
“I’m begging the government to do something so that the price can come down,” Omolara added.
A Point of Sale (POS) operator, identified simply as Opeyemi, also decried the rising cost of cooking gas, saying it had worsened the economic hardship faced by many Nigerians.
“We have been lamenting about the poor economic situation in the country, and now the rise in the price of cooking gas has added to our problems,” she told NEWSNGR.
“Depending on what I cook, I now spend between N2,000 and N4,000 weekly because a kilogramme is now about N2,000.”
Another food vendor, who declined to give her name, said the development had increased the cost of running her business.
“I now spend N70,000 daily to cook for my customers. It used to be far less before now,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers (NALPGAM) on Sunday raised concerns over the erratic supply and rising cost of LPG, warning that the situation could lead to scarcity and worsen hardship for Nigerians.
The association said cooking gas now sells for over N1,500 per kilogramme, while marketers pay between N25.2m and N26.2m for 20 metric tonnes of the product, depending on location.
In a statement jointly signed by the National President of NALPGAM, Edu Inyang, and the Executive Secretary, Bassey Essien, the association described the situation as “sad and pathetic.”
“The citizens of Nigeria have woken up to buy cooking gas, which should be a social item, at a prohibitive cost of over N1,500 per kg, while the marketers are made to pay as much as N25,200,000 or, depending on the location, N26,200,000 for 20 metric tonnes of cooking gas,” the statement read.
“We feel that if the situation is not immediately checked, the citizens may rise against the owners of gas filling stations.”
The marketers noted that the development had brought hardship to millions of households, small businesses, food vendors and low-income earners who rely on LPG for cooking and livelihood.
According to the association, the current situation is “seriously eroding the substantial progress made by the government” in promoting clean energy adoption in Nigeria.
The group added that marketers across the country were struggling to source LPG due to persistent supply shortages, high depot prices, logistics bottlenecks and rising operational costs.
“We observe that where product is available, it is sold at rates far beyond the reach of average Nigerians,” the association stated.
Nigeria’s domestic LPG consumption exceeded one million metric tonnes in 2020, marking the first time the country attained that threshold.
The Federal Government is targeting five million tonnes of LPG consumption annually by 2030. However, the rising cost of cooking gas and cylinders may pose a major challenge to achieving that goal.
