The federal government has ordered the DSS, EFCC and Nigeria Police to crack down on cooking gas hoarding and illegal diversion as prices surge to as high as N2,100 per kilogramme, far above the regulator’s indicative benchmarks.
Nigerians are already stretched thin — and cooking gas prices are making it worse. The federal government has had enough.
At an emergency stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, fired a warning shot at marketers, importers and logistics operators driving LPG prices through the roof. The Department of State Services, the EFCC and the Nigeria Police Force are now in the mix — and hoarding, illegal diversion and speculative storage are squarely in their crosshairs.
According to the Cable,Ekpo directed the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to ramp up market surveillance and work hand-in-glove with security agencies to stamp out artificial scarcity and bring transparency to a market that has been anything but.
His message to the supply chain was blunt and layered. “Marketers and importers (must) bring in additional volumes where required, share arrival and discharge timelines, price responsibly, and avoid withholding product for speculative gain (while) transporters and logistics operators (must) increase truck availability, clear delivery bottlenecks, keep haulage costs transparent, and move product quickly to areas of high demand.” Retailers, he added, must display prices clearly and stop arbitrary hikes.
On the supply side, the minister pointed to fresh reinforcements — new domestic supplies from the Seplat gas facility and a local blending initiative involving Nigeria LNG Limited, local producers and the Port Harcourt plant operator. The goal: slash import pressure, cut logistics costs and stabilise prices.
But the numbers on the ground tell a grim story. NMDPRA CEO Rabiu Umar revealed that LPG wholesalers and retailers are charging non-cost reflective prices, pushing cooking gas to as high as N2,100 per kilogramme. Meanwhile, consumers across the country are paying far above the regulator’s own indicative pricing benchmarks — the result of brazen profiteering and persistent distribution failures.
The government has drawn a line. Now comes the harder part — holding it.
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