By Michael Eboh

The Federal Government, yesterday, said it has commenced a policy to remove ownership of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, cylinders from consumers.

Speaking at a stakeholders’ forum in Abuja on the implementation of the micro distribution system to boost LPG penetration, Senior Technical Adviser on Downstream and Infrastructure to the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ms. Brenda Ataga, said the policy would require that the ownership of the cylinders rests solely with the dealers and distributors.

To achieve this, she disclosed that the Federal Government has concluded discussion to inject 600,000 LPG cylinders to owners of refilling plant on credit, to end the menace of roadside sales of LPG.

She noted that this new LPG policy was developed by the Federal Government to deepen the penetration of LPG, also known as cooking gas, and address issues of safety.

Ataga declared that starting from next week, when the policy would come into effect with the awareness campaign, illegal and roadside gas sellers would be expected to approach the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, for permit, and convert their sales point to Micro Distribution Centres, MDCs, for the sale of LPG.

She added that the Federal Government had reached an agreement with two original cylinder manufacturers to deliver the 600,000 cylinders to LPG distributors on credit, with a pre-payment period of 18 months.

Also speaking, Head of Gas, Abuja Zone of DPR, Mr. Umar Gwandu, said the clampdown on illegal roadside sellers of LPG would commence in earnest, noting that the requirements for licensing of MDCs had been reduced to encourage more individuals to venture into the business.

He said DPR was already working with Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, to ensure full compliance with the laws of the country as regards LPG distribution.