The Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers has raised the alarm over the erratic supply and rising cost of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, otherwise known as cooking gas, warning that the situation could trigger scarcity and worsen hardship for millions of Nigerians
The association said cooking gas is now selling for over N1,500 per kilogramme, while marketers currently pay between N25.2m and N26.2m for 20 metric tonnes of the product, depending on location. The product is sold at between N1,600 and N2,000 by many other dealers.
Checks by Punch correspondent on Sunday confirmed that the essential commodity jumped from less than N1,000/kg recently to around N1,500 or more, depending on the location.
In a statement jointly signed by the National President of NALPGAM, Edu Inyang, and the Executive Secretary, Mr Bassey Essien, the association described the development as “sad and rather very pathetic”.
“The citizens of Nigeria have woken up to buy cooking gas, which should be a social item, at a prohibitive cost of over N1,500 per kg, while the marketers are made to pay as much as N25,200,000 or, depending on the location, N26,200,000 for 20 metric tonnes of cooking gas.
“We feel that if the situation is not immediately checked, the citizens may rise against the owners of gas filling stations,” the marketers expressed fears.
They said the development had brought untold hardship to millions of Nigerian households, small businesses, food vendors, and low-income families who rely on LPG for daily cooking and livelihood.
The association further warned that failure to urgently address the crisis could lead to “accelerated food inflation, the collapse of small-scale LPG retail businesses, job losses, reduced investor confidence, and a significant setback to Nigeria’s clean energy and climate commitments”.
NALPGAM called on the Federal Government, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, domestic producers, terminal operators, international suppliers, and other stakeholders to take urgent and coordinated steps to stabilise the market before it degenerates further.
The association recommended immediate measures to improve the availability and accessibility of LPG nationwide. It also called for increased domestic LPG allocation to the Nigerian market, transparent distribution of available supply, reduction of bottlenecks in importation and distribution, and interventions to stabilise retail prices.
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