Gas (cooking gas) has worsened in
Lagos and Ogun states as a result of
the lack of supply from the Nigerian LNG
Limited, the major supplier of the product in
the country.
The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety
Agency had since June 21 barred NLNG cargoes
from entering or leaving the loading bay at the
Bonny terminal in the Niger Delta region over non-
payment of $158m levies.
This has affected cooking gas supply as NLNG
vessels cannot discharge in Lagos as a result of the
blockade.
As a result of the crisis, LPG consumers are now
being forced to bear the brunt with a 12-
kilogramme cylinder of gas, which is normally sold
between N2,800 and N3,000, now selling for
N3,500 at LPG plants, and between N4,000 and
N4,500 at retail shops.
The PUNCH had on July 3 reported that the price of
cooking gas had gone up by 16.6 per cent from
about N3,000 to N3,300 at plants, and N3,500 at
retail shops.
Many gas plants, which still had the product in
stock as at the time of the July 3 report, had
resorted to rationing, but the situation has now
gone worse with most LPG plants out of stock.
One of the plants located at Magodo area of Lagos,
which sold a 12kg cylinder of gas for N3,200 on
Monday, however, sold the same quantity for
N3,500 on Tuesday amid high demand from
customers, who besieged the facility in order to fill
their cylinders.
The National President, Liquefied Petroleum Gas
Retailers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Michael
Umudu, who spoke with newsmen on Tuesday,
lamented the development.
He recalled that though there were speculations
last week that scarcity of the product was
imminent, he said the situation had escalated
beyond imagination due to the unavailability of the
product in many LPG plants.
Umudu warned that the situation might worsen if
the NIMASA/NLNG rift was not quickly resolved.
"The situation will be worse if nothing is done in the
next two days," he said, adding that majority of
retailers had already run out of the product.
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