To halt the skyrocketing price of cooking gas, the Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers (NALPGAM) have asked the federal government to suspend the re-imposition of Value Added Tax (VAT) and Customs duties on imported Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).
In an open letter to the Minister of State Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, on Monday, NALPGAM said gave five recommendations among which is: “the re-imposition of VAT and Customs duties on imported LPG should be suspended outright and government directive to this effected issued without any further delay.”
It also said the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) and Kwale Hydrocarbon in Delta State should be made to sell LPG they produce in naira instead of dollar; the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) should guarantee a window for easy access to foreign exchange for gas importers, and that NLNG should engage ‘middlemen’ to stop outrageous price hikes.
According to the letter endorsed by Olatunbosun Oladapo, the national president and Bassey Essien, the executive secretary, the LPG sourced from NLNG goes for N11 million per 20 metric ton truck with a daily increase of N300,000 to N500,000, excluding VAT and customs duties.
The association also said the price of LPG skyrocketed since January 2020 when a 20MT sold for N3.4m but rose to N5.4m by December. It was N5.6m in January 2021 and rose to N11m last month, and will further rise.
It observed that a 12.5 kilogramme of cooking gas which sold for n3,000 in January 2021 now goes for N10,000 and is still rising.
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