Cooking gas now N1,700/kg, revolt looms – Marketers warn

The Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers (NALPGAM) has raised the alarm over a sharp spike in cooking gas prices, warning that the escalating cost could trigger public outrage and force millions of households back to using unsafe traditional fuels.

The Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers (NALPGAM) has sounded an emergency alarm over the skyrocketing cost and erratic supply of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) across the country. According to the association, retail cooking gas prices have surged to between ₦1,500 and ₦1,700 per kilogram, while commercial marketers are being forced to pay between ₦25.2 million and ₦26.2 million for a single 20-metric-tonne truckload of the product depending on their location. The aggressive price spike has placed immense pressure on millions of ordinary Nigerian households, low-income earners, food vendors, and small retail businesses, many of whom have been completely priced out of accessing clean cooking energy for their daily survival.

The body attributed the severe market instability to a confluence of persistent supply shortages at domestic terminals, high depot pricing, complex logistics bottlenecks, and continuously escalating operational costs borne by independent distributors. NALPGAM warned that if the trend remains unchecked by regulatory interventions, it will rapidly undo years of progress recorded under the Federal Government’s clean energy campaign, which previously encouraged citizens to migrate away from hazardous fuels. Observers note that vulnerable families are already reverting to toxic alternatives like firewood and charcoal, a shift that presents immediate, devastating threats to public health, regional environmental sustainability, and Nigeria’s broader carbon emission reduction targets.

Appealing for immediate government intervention to stabilize the value chain and protect critical investments, NALPGAM National President, Mr. Edu Inyang, called on the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and terminal operators to increase domestic gas allocations and streamline distribution networks. In a joint statement issued over the weekend, Inyang cautioned that the desperation of ordinary citizens could shift from silent suffering into direct hostility aimed at retail operators at filling stations. “It is sad and rather very pathetic to inform the general public that Nigerians have woken up to buy cooking gas, which should be a social item, at a prohibitive cost of over N1,500 per kilogram. We feel that if the situation is not immediately checked, citizens may rise against owners of gas filling stations”, Inyang stated.

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