Disturbed by the soaring price of Cooking Gas that has made some Nigerians resort to using firewood and charcoal, the Federal Government has banned the exportation of Cooking Gas till the local demand is met.
Ekperikpe Ekpo, Minister of State Petroleum Resources, lamented that the prices of Cooking Gas has increased astronomically from N1,030 per Kilogram to N1,400 per Kilogram and above in some States, saying this has led to the ban on exportation of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, also known as Cooking Gas.
The Minister made this disclosure at a workshop in Abuja, stressing that the government was working to improve supply to the domestic market.
Ekpo said: “You have seen the demonstration by the Federal Government by withdrawing all taxes and levies from importation of gas related equipment. It is a big incentive on the issue. of LPG.
“We are interacting with the critical stakeholders to ensure that there is no exportation of LPG. All LPG produced within the country will have to be domesticated and when this is done, the volume will increase and of course, the price will automatically crash. I’m in contact with the regulator, NMDPRA (Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority), we have meetings almost on a daily basis, and the producers of the gas like Mobil, Chevron and Shell. So there is that hope that things will turn around.”
Questioned on why the removal of taxes was not reflecting on lower prices he said: “It is not going to reflect that way. We are dealing with human beings. The policy has been put in place and the investors want to maximise the profits that they are going to get from it all. At the end of the day we have to come in. That is why you have the regulator and we are interfacing with them to make sure they crash the price.”
