Terminal Operators Responsible For Cooking Gas Price Hike -Marketers

The Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers (NALPGM), Olatunbosun Oladapo, has accused terminal operators of forcing the price of Liquified Petroleum Gas, LPG, (Cooking Gas) up. The NALPGM President Olatunbosun Oladapo, said if the operators continue to adjust the price, then the price of 12.5kg of LPG may hit N18,000 by December. He therefore called on the Federal Government to check the activities of terminal owners, Gas retailers. Oladapo, said that there has been a sudden increment from between N9 million and N10 million per 20 metric tons to N14 million per 20 metric tons. He said if the federal government doesn’t intervene, the price of gas could “potentially reach N18 million per metric ton by December.” He said: “There is a ridiculous hike in gas prices going on right now, and I am afraid that if the Federal Government does not step in to checkmate the activities of these terminal owners, the price could reach as high as N18m per metric ton by December. This means that a 12.5kg could go as high as N18,000. “Terminal owners are hiding under the guise of high foreign exchange to increase the price to further increase the suffering of the masses. “Now, the ordinary man would not be able to buy gas. How many minimum wage earners can afford gas now? Everyone is turning to firewood and charcoal. The surprising thing was that they visited President Tinubu last week, and promised to work together with his administration to make life better. “Now they have come back and started doing something else. Where are all the palliatives and buses they promised to donate? We have not seen anything.” The NALPGM President had in August hinted that Nigerians may pay higher for cooking gas from mid-August 2023. He attributed the reasons for the expected increase to rising international prices, high tax rates, high prices of vessels, forex scarcity, and Naira devaluation.

NNPCL, marketers, others involved in fuel subsidy scam –Yuguda

*Says Buhari can’t claim ignorance of the whole issue Former Bauchi State Governor, Isa Yuguda has said that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), petroleum markers and other are involved in the fuel subsidy scam the country has suffered in so many years. Yuguda, who blamed the lack of a political will on the part of former President Muhammadu Buhari’s, said Buhari had before becoming President in 2015 described subsidy as a scam yet he did nothing to end it. Yuguda, who said this on ChannelsTV on Monday in Abuja, insisted that the subsidy regime was a scam that was perpetuated by the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) in collaboration with marketers and other stakeholders. He said: “I am sad to let Nigerians know what I saw; we came across situations where subsidy was claimed on pipelines that never existed. “We were subsidizing West Africa, we were bringing in this fuel at an elevated cost and then half of it was exported out by the same group that is supposed to supply this fuel in Nigeria. Are the security doing their jobs, are other security agencies that are supposed to sanction those that are taking our fuel out of Nigeria doing their jobs? “Secondly, when I chaired that committee on subsidy that uncovered the scam, I told you that subsidy was being paid on pipelines that never pumped products. In fact, forms were just filled and subsidies are paid, and to whom are they paid? – to the marketers.    “Those that claim to pump the products and those that are in the subsidy scam, they just fill papers, invoices and they claim subsidy on it. They have no heart, these people, they are just heartless,” Yuguda said. Yuguda, who is the Chairman of the APC Forum, a professional think-tank, said that the subsidy racket “was a sophisticated gang up and those that should act are also part of it. President Buhari cannot claim ignorance of the whole issue,” he added.    Recently, after a visit to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, ex-militant leader, Asari Dokubo had said:  “I also want to say that oil theft is encouraged by the military. The Army and the Navy intimidate the (Nigeria Security and) Civil Defence (Corps) who are by status the people who are supposed to guard these pipelines. They receive a lot of money from NNPCL and the IOCs and just across the corner, you will see a houseboat. “We have seen that situation. You have a situation that is completely different. The government thought they could run the economy through borrowing. This is the time as a matter of necessity. “If Mr President can have the will to go after all those government officials that were responsible for hemorrhaging the economy, 70-80 per cent of what they have taken out of Nigeria should be brought back into Nigeria. Would he continue printing money like the way that they’ve been doing through Ways and Means. “Government cannot continue to borrow from the CBN to fund activities, it’s not possible. There is a limit to which you can borrow,” he explained.