The Federal Government of Nigeria don announce say dem no go export cooking gas again, to help reduce the high price of cooking gas for Nigerians. This decision, wey the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, announce on Tuesday, go start from November 1, 2024.
According to Louis Ibah, the spokesman for the minister, the decision come after the minister hold a high-level meeting with stakeholders in Abuja to address the skyrocketing price of cooking gas and the hardship it dey cause Nigerians.
The price of cooking gas don increase sharply from N700 per kilogram in June 2023, when President Bola Tinubu just enter office, to N1,500 per kilogram in October 2024. This be about 114 per cent increase within just 16 months.
To tackle this problem, the minister establish a high-level committee in November 2023, led by Mr Farouk Ahmed, the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), along with other key stakeholders in the LPG value chain. However, despite dis effort, prices still dey fluctuate, and recently, it rise to N1,500 from an average of N1,100 to N1,250 per kilogram.
The minister give new directives to reduce prices. He say that from November 1, 2024, NNPC Ltd. and LPG producers must stop exporting LPG produced in Nigeria or import equivalent volumes of LPG at cost-reflective prices.
In terms of pricing framework, the NMDPRA will meet with stakeholders to create a domestic LPG pricing framework within 90 days, indexing price to the cost of in-country production rather than external markets like Americas and Far East Asia.
For long-term solution, facilities will be developed to blend, store, and deliver LPG within 12 months, ending exports until the market achieve sufficiency and price stability.
