20 million rural households yet to adopt cooking gas - NIPCO boss

The Managing Director, NIPCO Plc, Mr. Suresh Kumar, has said that there are 20 million households in rural communities in Nigeria not using Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), also called cooking gas.

Kumar, who disclosed this at the 13th LPG conference in Abuja, said that the untapped 20 million households equate about three million tons of gas yearly.

The NIPCO boss, therefore, said that his company is planning to improve LPG penetration in rural areas by 50 skids.He said that with about 90 per cent of LPG usage in the urban areas, the rural areas recorded just 10 per cent usage, stating there is need to deepen LPG usage in rural areas.

Kumar enjoined federal and state governments to help provide the basic infrastructure for rural consumers.

Reeling out the company’s efforts towards utilising Nigeria’s abundant gas resources, he said his company has invested over $100m in LPG value chain.

As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility, he said his company donated several gas accessories to boost usage across the country. Kumar highlighted the hurdles to gas agenda to include lack of knowledge and safety awareness about product, usage, and safe handling.

Kumar said the poor road conditions and underdeveloped infrastructure, including lack of distribution channel are major hindrances to adoption of LPG in the country. He also noted that uncertainty in government policy on subsidy is causing a setback for investment in LPG.