…High import, VAT, FX scarcity worsen woes
Nigerians waiting for a crash in the price of Liquified Natural Gas(LPG), popularly called cooking gas, may have to wait a little longer, the Chief Executive Officer of Ecogas Energy Resources Limited, Chief Shina Luwoye, has disclosed.
Luwoye stated this at an interview session with select media in Lagos, yesterday, adding that the importation of about 60 per cent cooking gas consumed in the country remained a major factor for the skyrocketing prices.
“The Federal Government’s efforts to deepen adoption of LPG have been yielding results. We can boldly see this through the high demand for the product”
According to him, other factors that have worsened the woes of consumers, included the re- introduction of 7.5 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) on cooking gas, devaluation of Naira as well as scarcity of dollar inflow were responsible for the surge in the prices of the product.
Expressing concern over the high price, Luwoye maintained that Ecogas has steadily pursued LPG adoption and penetration within the localities of her gas refilling plants and has aggressively pursued cost and margin cutting measures aimed at making the product more available and affordable in its catchment areas. The company currently serves up to 500, 000 families on monthly basis.
“The Federal Government’s efforts to deepen adoption of LPG have been yielding results. We can boldly see this through the high demand for the product. Even my aged mother who hitherto forbids her tenants from using cooking gas now uses LPG for cooking. The gains we have recorded, which now make more people to demand for gas shows that we have done well as a country in terms of gas. Unfortunately, the recent uncontrollable north pole movement in LPG market price curve is a major threat to the domestic LPG market.
“What we are now experiencing with gas also has elements of general price increase / inflation in Nigeria that is affecting the nation in general and other petroleum products.”
SOURCE: sunnewsonline.com