Despite the appeal by the minister of State Petroleum Resources (Gas), Honourable Ekperikpe Ekpo, urging marketers, distributors, and all stakeholders along the LPG (cooking gas) value chain to desist from hoarding the product and refrain from exploiting consumers for profit, the product’s scarcity persist in Lagos, Abuja, Delta States, others.

Besides, for the few available cooking gas outlets that opened for business, the prices of the product vary.

Market survey by Nigerian Tribune showed that while one kilogramme of cooking gas cost between N1,700 and N2,200 in Lagos as at Sunday, it costs between N1,350 and N1,500 in Abuja; between N1,300 and N1,500 in Asaba; N1,500 and N1,900 in Ilorin; N1700 in Ogun and N1,400 in Akure respectively.

Lamenting the situation, a resident of Abuja, who identified himself simply as Joseph, said, “As at Saturday, I bought six kg at N8,100 along Airport Road in Abuja instead of N6,600 that I used to buy. That is N1,350 per kg.”

He said the situation is getting out of hand and something urgent must be done to restore normalcy.

In Asaba, Delta State, a resident, Mr. Timi Afolabi, said complaints were too much about cooking gas price hike. According to him, one kilogramme of LPG is selling at N1,500 per kilogramme.

In Ilorin, one of the reporters in the state, Yusuf Usman, said his wife bought at N1,900 without any queue.

“Here we are buying at N1,400 per kilogramme,” Oluwatuyi, a resident in Akure said.

When called on Sunday, the president of the National Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas of Nigeria (NALPGAN), Oladapo Olatunbosun, said he won’t comment on the issue further until Wednesday when normalcy is expected to return.

The minister of State for Petroleum, last week, in a statement, expressed concern over the recent increase in the price of cooking gas.

He appealed for calm and understanding from Nigerians, assuring that the situation is temporary and will normalize very soon.

“Supply to the domestic market is expected to stabilise by next week, leading to a gradual reduction in prices,” he said. (Nigerian Tribune)