By Prince Okafor

THE president of the Nigerian Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association, NLPGA, Dayo Adeshina has made a strong case for the adoption of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG as primary domestic energy in Nigeria.

Cooking Gas

He stressed that the adoption becomes necessary as LPG is clean and readily available in all parts of the nation.

According to him, the increased use of LPG would reduce the over-dependent on other cooking fuels, especially kerosene and firewood.

In an exclusive chat with Sweetcrude, Adesina said: “Apart from the harmful nature of kerosene is also included. If you paint your kitchen today with white today and you use kerosene for four month go back and look at that kitchen especially the roof, it will be black.

“What you see up there is the 30 percent, 70 percent have actually gone into your lungs, and you are going to have cardiovascular problems.”

“If the federal government is going to encourage people switch over to cooking gas, they have to make it cheaper for them, for them to get cylinder, the stove at a cheaper price.

“Until then, people will continue to use what they have, and we need to take away all those physical challenges that we in the industry face, which includes the tariff on cylinder, since there is no flat steel, and our steel industries are in comatose.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas, NLNG, Managing Director, Mr. Tony Attah, said the nation would not have any issues with supply as the company has the capacity to flood market with adequate LPG.

He said Nigeria LNG would increase the penetration and market share of LPG by 32 per cent from 400,000 metric tonnes per annum (MTPA) to three million MTPA in five years, as part of efforts to make more Nigerians use the product.

According to him, a study by the company showed that the country must increase LPG production by 32 per cent, adding that given the right condition, the firm would soon achieve this goal.

The NLNG boss said the gas giant had taken up the drive to improve LPG use in Nigeria, adding that its efforts must be complemented by the government to ensure the market peaks in line with the estimate revealed by its study.

He urged the government to remove fiscal and regulatory bottlenecks to create a conducive business environment for private sector investment in all segments of the value chain.

“The removal of VAT on LPG as well as taxes and duties, concessions for LPG equipment and cylinders must be at the top of the priority list for the government,” he said, adding that more people would use LPG in the country when these problems are resolved.’’

However, the company stated in its report that it has been consistent in supplying LPG to the Nigerian domestic market this year.

“At the moment, NLNG has signed Sales and Purchase Agreements (SPAs) with 15 off-takers (all Nigerian companies) in which the company is committed to deliver up to 250,000 tonnes of LPG into the Nigerian market annually, in line with the commitment to grow the domestic LPG market in Nigeria.

“The LPG Domestic Supply scheme, which has been an outstanding success, has led to a significant reduction in the end-user price of LPG in the domestic market.​”