Govt releases cooking gas to check scarcity
By Yakubu Lawal
and Olushola Yusuff
COOKING gas users nationwide will soon heave a sign of relief as the Federal Government has ordered the release of 300,000 metric tonnes to check the current scarcity of the product.
Already, about 8,600 mt of the product are being loaded from ExxonMobil's Bonny River Terminal in Rivers State as part of the first consignment ostensibly to bring down the prices of product and meet local demand.
The Special Assistant to the President on Petroleum Matters, Alhaji Ja'afaru Paki, stated this yesterday in Lagos. He said within one week, the product would get to the end users thereby reviving the use of Cooking gas in the country.
Paki ,who is the Chairman Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) Steering Committee, said that the panel was in Lagos as part of its efforts to assess the available facilities that would enhance government's objective of making gas the fuel of both industrial and household uses.
He told reporters at the end of the tour of LPG storage facilities in Lagos, that the equipment were suitable for nationwide lifting and distribution of the products.
"An assessment of the integrity of the LPG distribution facilities in the country is a priority for the steering committee, preparatory to the receipt of the first cargo of LPG from ExxonMobil," he stated.
The chairman said that the assessment took the members to Bonny River Terminal, Calabar LPG Depot, Apapa LPG Depot and the cylinder manufacturing companies in Ibadan, Oyo State and Abeokuta, Ogun State to ascertain the readiness of the facilities.
He said: "I wish to inform you that the terminal is ready to commence supply operations. Indeed, the loading of the first 7,000 metric tonnes cargo being part of the allocation is scheduled to take off within the week."
While in Calaber, he said the committee observed that the depot was functional and could adequately handle about 1,600 metric tonnes of LPG at a time, pointing out that several indigenous companies were patronising the facility to distribute product in the area.
" I wish to assure you that the current effort of the government would in the next few weeks , enhance the supply of LPG to the local market, invariably, it is expected that the stability in supply would in turn make it possible for LPG to reach the consumers at a reasonable price," he stated.
According to him, the shortage of the product was due to the epileptic state of the four refineries which has led to the importation of the product and the present scarcity. "I have explained why the price of the product is high but once the supply is stabilised, the price will be affordable and also the facilities on ground will go a long way to ease off storage problems," Paki stated
The committee inaugurated by the Presidential Adviser on Petroleum and Energy Matters, Dr. Edmund Daukoru in March this year has the following mandate; to put in place LPG policy and regulation, institutional framework ; safety and standard, modalities for ensuring availability and distribution; establishment of investment needs and opportunities.
The special adviser pledged that the committee would help the Apapa LPG jetty to facilitate the changing of its faulty weigh-bridge, the request for the conversion of the unloading bay.
Paki said gas marketers had a choice to build their own storage facilities but maintained that the equipment owned by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was available for use, to help them cut cost.
Also speaking at the occasion was an official of Nigerian Association of Liquified Petroleum Gas Marketers (NALPGAM), Mr. Mauruf Onabue stated that its members were well positioned for easy distribution of LPG to consumers.
According to him, NALPGAM members have depots and filling plants across the country, which tends to enhanced easy distribution of LPG in all parts of the country.
He said the association was ready to work with the Federal Government in using the LPG sector to reduce the poverty level of the society, adding that the association was sure the steering committee would come out with measures that would move the sector forward.
In his remarks, the Managing Director of Owel Holdings Limited, Mr. Charles Osezua, said the LPG sector was a good instrument to be used for implementing the poverty alleviation programme of government, adding that government should direct more allocation to Lagos, which is the largest consumer of LPG in the country.
His words, "the LPG would be an instrument for poverty alleviation, which is one cardinal objective of Mr. President in granting this allocation. "
