KEY POINTS
- NALPGAM says current cooking gas price hikes are artificial and caused by middlemen exploiting a temporary supply shortage.
- Strike action at Dangote Refinery and depot maintenance caused nationwide LPG scarcity and inflated prices.
- Association assures Nigerians that supply has resumed and prices should stabilise around ₦1,300 per kilogram soon.
The Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers, NALPGAM, has described the ongoing spike in cooking gas prices across the country as artificial, blaming middlemen for exploiting consumers amid the supply disruption triggered by the recent industrial crisis involving the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the Dangote Refinery.
Oladapo Olatunbosun, National President of NALPGAM, stated this on Wednesday while speaking on The Morning Brief, a programme on Channels Television.
He said there had been no official increase in the cost of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), noting that opportunistic dealers were taking advantage of the temporary shortage to fleece the public.
“I sympathise with Nigerians as the President of NALPGAM because we never intended to have a situation like this,” Olatunbosun said. “I must say categorically that prices of cooking gas have not gone up officially. What is happening is that some marketers are taking advantage of the shortage in supply and increased demand to make good money, which is wrong.”
He added that the association was strongly opposed to such profiteering practices, expressing optimism that normalcy would return within days as supplies resume across depots.
Supply Disruption Deepened by Strike, Depot Delays
Olatunbosun explained that the current scarcity was primarily caused by logistical disruptions following the strike action at the Dangote Refinery, which halted the loading of around 50 trucks daily, a volume that previously met the gas needs of the South-West and parts of the North.
According to him, before the crisis, the entry of Dangote Refinery into the LPG market had stabilised prices by eliminating middlemen and making importation less attractive due to competitive pricing.
However, when the refinery embarked on maintenance works and subsequently faced strike-related delays, the ripple effects spread quickly across the market.
“Before the strike, trucks spent up to 14 days waiting for loading at the Dangote yard due to maintenance. When the strike began, marketers turned to Apapa depots, but they soon ran dry. Even when a vessel arrived to restock, it couldn’t discharge because inspection officers were unavailable due to the strike. That five-day delay created a backlog, which deepened the scarcity,” he said.
Olatunbosun noted that with the suspension of the industrial action, products were now being discharged and distributed across Nigeria.
However, he acknowledged that the South-West, which consumes the highest volume of cooking gas in the country, was still experiencing shortages.
