Oyo, Bayelsa, Ogun spend most on cooking gas

Oyo, Bayelsa and Ogun States spent the most on refilling a 12.5kg cylinder of liquefied petroleum gas (cooking gas) in April, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The recent Cooking Gas Price Watch report by NBS shows that the highest average retail price for refilling a 12.5kg cylinder of cooking gas was recorded in Oyo with N8,930.9, followed by Bayelsa with N8,916.7 and Ogun, with N8,766.7.

Conversely, the lowest was recorded in Yobe with N6, 619.2, followed by Borno and Ebonyi with, N6, 800.0 and N7, 710.6 respectively.

Across the country, the average price for refilling a 12.5kg cooking gas increased year-on-year by 89.1 percent to N8,164.5 in April 2022 from N4,317.6 in April 2021, while month-on-month, it rose by 7.2 percent.

Experts blamed the price hike on the dearth of infrastructure, global shortfall in gas supply, inadequate local production, shortage of foreign exchange, devaluation of the naira and logistic hitches.

Speaking with BusinessDay, Adam, a barber who recently ventured into the gas retail business, lamented the challenges he has faced since going into the business.

Read also: Nigeria’s gas potential draws interest at global conference

“The experience is nothing to write home about,” he said. “I can’t even get the quantity I used to from my supplier anymore. This inflation is killing us.”

The rising price of cooking gas is already putting pressure on consumers as it is a critical household item.

Elizabeth Olabanji, an undergraduate student of the University of Benin, who is currently at home on the back of the ASUU strike, said her household had to cut down cooking gas purchases.

“Prices are increasing by the day yet our incomes are not improving. So we had to cut down on the consumption of cooking gas to meet up with other needs.”

The well-being of consumers is gradually being eroded by the high cost, making them source alternatives like charcoal, firewood, and kerosene, said Moses Ojo, a Lagos-based economic analyst.

In April, headline inflation rate rose to 1.76 percent month-on-month, the worst since May 2017, as food prices jumped 2.0 percent to compound consumers’ misery.

In terms of regions, the South-West had the highest cooking gas price at N8, 573.3 followed by the South-South and South-East with N8, 252.9 and 8240.3 respectively. The North-East Zone recorded the lowest price with N7, 559.4.

An average retail price of 5kg cylinder of cooking gas stood at N3, 800.5 in April 2022 from N3, 778.3 the previous month. On a year-on-year basis, it increased by 83.7 percent.

According to state profile analysis, Gombe recorded the highest with N4337.5, followed by Bayelsa with N4250.0 and Adamawa with N4,220.0.

On the other hand, Yobe recorded the lowest average price with N2, 931.8 this was followed by Sokoto and Zamfara with N3,000.0 and N3,250.0 respectively.