By Hallimah Olamide
The Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers (NALPGAM) has revealed that the hike in the foreign exchange rate and activities in the international market may result to increase in the price of cooking gas.
Mr Olatunbosun Oladapo, the President of the association, issued the warning on Thursday in Lagos during an interview with newsmen.
Oladapo noted that a gas terminal operator sent out an official notification of the changes in price, attributing the increase to a significant hike in forex rate and scarcity of same.
He cited rising international prices, high tax rates, prices of vessels, forex scarcity, and naira devaluation as some of the reasons for the price review.
“It is starting next week because international prices have gone up. The prices of vessels have gone up and taxes are high.
“Consumers, middlemen, and retailers are feeling the impact because business is now on the low side,” he said.
Olatunbosun, who described the imminent price increment as unfortunate, said: “The situation is very unfortunate because prices are going higher.
“The government should come in and alleviate the suffering of the masses by providing palliatives, reducing taxes and levies.
“You can imagine that for every 1kg of gas priced at N700, tax would take way N3.50. How much is left in such a business?”
Olatunbosun urged the government to tax profit and not products because consumers were not buying gas anymore.
He also argued that local taxes are worsening the situation, adding that marketers, who had the opportunity to buy products locally, to fix prices with “consumers’ sympathy” in mind.
Recall that the National Bureau of Statistics on retail gas prices had said that the average retail price for refilling a 5kg cylinder of cooking gas decreased by 6.71 per cent month-on-month from N4,360.69 recorded in May to N4,068.26 in June.
On a year-on-year basis, it decreased by 3.56 per cent from N4,218.38 in June 2022.
On state profile analysis, Kwara recorded the highest average price for refilling a 5kg cylinder with N4,750.00, followed by Niger with N4,691.16, and Zamfara with N4,683.33.
On the other hand, Ondo recorded the lowest price with N3,287.86, followed by Ekiti and Nasarawa with N3,288.46 and N3,364.62, respectively.