From Uche Usim, Abuja
Respite may soon come the way of Nigerians as the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo has waded into the challenges bordering on the supply and pricing of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in the domestic market.
Gas prices skyrocketed in recent weeks up to N900/kg, forcing Nigerians to resort to firewood and charcoal since kerosene is not also within reach.
Key challenges identified as responsible for LPG price hike are foreign exchange scarcity which hampered imports and supply hiccups witnessed in the domestic market.
To tackle the challenges, Ekpo recently held a meeting with relevant stakeholders in Abuja to get to the bottom of the matter.
The had in attendance top officials of Chevron Nigeria Limited led by Sansay Narasimi; Nigerian Midstream Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) led by its Chief Executive Officer, Farouk Ahmed and officials of NNP limited.
Ekpo expressed the concerns of President Bola Tinubu over the astronomical increase in the price of cooking gas and the attendant hardship on the majority of citizens.
The minister, who noted that Nigeria is abundantly endowed with gas reserves, said the situation where some of the multinational firms were more concerned with gas exports without dedicating huge volumes for the domestic market was unacceptable and should be discouraged.
“With the exponential increase in the price of LPG, there is the need for the Federal Government to intervene and I am representing this at this moment. We acknowledge that some producers are exporting while we are faced with the challenges of importation. Public interest is the overriding interest all over the world for the government, the demand for LPG will increase as we approach December…you have a public service obligation to collaborate with the government to ensure security of gas supply, we need to therefore bend backwards and find solutions, to ensure that we have sufficient supply and stability in-country and that Nigerians have gas,” said Ekpo.
The gas minister, thereafter, constituted a committee headed by the Chief Executive Officer of NMDPRA with a mandate to come up with recommendations on how to boost supplies and crash LPG prices within a week.