Oil and Gas Traders Association of Nigeria has blamed the Federal Government's policies for the continous hike in the prices of cooking gas which has become out of reach for most users in the country
Ogun State Chairman of the association, Alhaji Surajudeen Bada while featuring on a programme “SmashLens “on Smash88.1 Fm monitored by Edu-Biznews in Abeokuta on Tuesday, called for the immediate review of the policies responsible for the current hike in the prices of cooking gas
According to him, “per 20 metric ton of the product now cost N11million from the initial cost of N5million from the depot , so many marketers have abandoned the sales of cooking gas because of the situation”
Findings revealed that 12.5 kilogram, kg, of cooking gas which was sold at N4,000 in January 2021, rose to N7,200 in August 2021, forcing most users to now use kerosene or fire wood as alternative sources for their cooking
A report by the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulation Agency PPPRA , also showed that out of the 76,578.986 metric ton of LPG supplied nationwide ,49,453.081 metric ton was locally produced while 27,125.905 metric ton was imported into the country
But Bada faulted the rationale for the importation which according to him ,is one of the factors responsible for the increase in prices of cooking gas and called for an immediate increase in the allocation for the domestic demand from the current 35 percent allocation by government to marketers, saying “there are more than enough local production for cooking gas and no reason for Nigerians to be subjected to current hardship of getting the product”
He also called for removal of the recent inclusion of Value Added Tax(VAT) which added to the cost of getting the product from the depot by independent marketers
Bada who is the Chief Executive Officer of Surrey Bee Petroleum insisted that government must make the product available to Nigerians, before thinking of exporting the product to earn foreign exchange
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