Lagosians threaten to return to charcoal, firewood as price of 12.5kg cylinder cooking gas rises to N12,000

Angry and frustrated, she began to lament how the increase would affect the monthly budget money that her civil-servant husband handed out to her. Given the pattern of increases in the price of almost everything, particularly food items, she cannot make up for the extra amount by taking from the money budgeted for other items.

With despair, she wonders if she may have to resort to cheaper alternatives such as charcoal and firewood.

Price of gas: the bigger picture

The cost of refilling a 12.5kg Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), commonly known as cooking gas, has recently increased to about an average of N12,000 in some parts of Lagos. The cost of refilling a 5kg cylinder also increased to N4,750 on average.

This is according to findings by our correspondent who visited several gas retailing depots in the state, speaking with both dealers and consumers of the product as they lament the exponential increase.

According to its Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) Price Watch for August 2022, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed that the average retail price for refilling a 12.5kg cylinder of Cooking Gas increased by 0.77% on a month-on-month basis from N9,824.07 in July 2022 to N9,899.34 in August 2022. For the 5kg cylinder, the average retail price for refilling increased from N4,397.68 recorded in July 2022 to N4,456.56 in August 2022.

In the same report, the NBS indicated that states like Ebonyi were already paying as much as N11,225.00 for refilling the 12.5kg cylinder in August 2022.

Consumers are today experiencing the surge even as the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd (NLNG) through its Managing Director and CEO, Dr Philip Mshelbila, earlier in the year promised Nigerians the supply of 100% of the company’s LPG production. The federal government had also assured Nigerians to take steps to bring down the cost of the highly in-demand product.

However, that is yet to manifest as consumers are now lamenting the continuous price increase, pushing the product out of the reach of many.

Consumers’ reaction

Mr Timothy Omigie, a businessman who was at Dekeem Gas depot in the Okota-Isolo area to purchase the product, told Legit.ng that the price hike has become frustrating to consumers.

“At this point, we are quite frustrated at the rate at which the price of every commodity in the market keeps surging every single day. Imagine the increase from last month to this month and with every possibility that it might increase again in the next few weeks,” he said.

Another Lagos housewife, Adetoun Omole who resides in Ikorodu, stated her frustration:

"I bought 12.5kg cylinder in this same depot last month for N10,000, only to be told today that it is now N12,200. This really destabilizes my budget. What if I didn’t come with extra money that would have meant that I go back home and not purchase gas and definitely would not be able to cook food at home.

“The government doesn’t seem to be doing anything about the constant increase in the price of cooking gas. They (the government) have been encouraging us to use gas instead of charcoal, but with the way things are going, the common man may no longer be within the reach of the common man.

"When I consider that I have to pay more for gas and food items I buy from the market, I cannot help but reduce the quantity or quality of the food or maybe increase the price for a portion if I need to still make a substantial profit," Obasa told Legit.ng.

Why the surge in the price of cooking gas?

A mini gas depot in the Ikeja area sold the product for N11,750 for the 12.5kg cylinder. The manager of the depot who chose to speak on the condition of anonymity stated that the selling price at the depot is usually determined by how much they buy from the marketers.

“The increase is not really our fault. We also buy the product to sell to consumers. If there is an increase in price by the marketers, we also have to increase from our end to avoid losses. The problem is really from the top of the chain.”

Chima Nwankwo, a retailer in the Ajah area, said that one of the factors responsible for the high cost of cooking gas is the rising foreign exchange rate in the country.

“Asides from being a dealer, I’m also a gas consumer, so I understand how our customers are feeling. Gas is not the only thing that keeps increasing in price in Nigeria. A great percentage of locally consumed gas is being imported and you cannot rule out the factor of rising dollar and naira devaluation,” Nwankwo said.