By Clara Nwachukwu

Amidst accusations and counter accusation between the Nigeria LNG Limited, NLNG and marketers over the cause(s) of the current scarcity and high cost of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, commonly called cooking gas, the latter has absorbed itself of blame.

The marketers under the auspices of the Nigerian Association of LPG Marketers, NALPGAM, attributed the development to a number of issues ranging from inadequate supply from the NLNG, high supply cost, exchange rate and weather as well as unauthorized loading fees by labour and a host of other issues, and called for urgent government intervention to arrest the situation.

The marketers in a recent statement in Lagos, signed by its President, MAO Onabule and Executive Secretary, Omotunde Adesoye, said the expiration of the three_year term of the Federal Government/NLNG Domestic Supply Programme, created market monopoly for other independent suppliers like NIPCO and NAV_Gas, “which immediately resulted in a 30 percent increase two months ago.”

Against this backdrop, the marketers argued that they are not responsible for prevalent high price of cooking gas, stating that members are as much a victim as the consumers.

Coupled with the unauthorized loading fee of N20,000, allegedly being collected by the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, the burden of additional costs were passed on to the consumers, leading to the price hike.