Gladys Nweke
The Federal Government has stated that Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, consumers would henceforth not own gas cylinders and that ownership of the cylinders would rest solely on owners of gas refilling plants, saying the move was necessary to deepen nationwide penetration of the LPG, also known as cooking gas.
Senior Technical Adviser to the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources on Downstream and Infrastructure, Ms Brenda Ataga, who disclosed this while in an interview with the Energy and Maritime Reporters recently in Port Harcourt, said the new policy would also address issues of safety in the use of the commodity.
Also, she disclosed that the Federal Government had already concluded discussions with two manufacturers to inject 600,000 LPG cylinders into the country, giving the equipment to owners of refilling plant on credit.
Ataga declared that starting from this week when the policy would come into effect with an awareness campaign, illegal and roadside gas sellers would be expected to approach the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, for a permit. and convert their sales point to Micro Distribution Centres, MDC, for the sale of LPG.
She noted that Nigeria was the only country in West Africa yet to adopt the re-circulation model, adding that every other country has moved away from this practice, especially as most of the population cannot afford cylinders and would need the costs of the cylinders removed for them.
Ataga maintained that the Federal Government was looking at licensing about 386,000 MDCs across the country, noting that the clampdown on illegal and roadside LPG sellers would begin this week in areas that had converted to the MDCs format.
What is the role of the government? We are here to act as an instigator; to trigger the market for you marketers and catalyze it. Our role really would be putting strategies in place and support the dealers, she stressed.
