Three weeks after the Lagos State government partnering some private investors unveiled the Eko Gas initiative to encourage a switch from kerosene, charcoal and firewood to Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) as cooking fuel of choice in Lagos, the government is tinkering with the idea of asking residents to turn in their stoves for gas cylinders.
The idea, BusinessDay learnt, is to be tabled before the state executive council meeting for deliberations and possible approval should it receive the support of majority of the 41-member council.
BusinessDay was told that it is basically to drive the newly launched LPG programme which aims at greener and cleaner environment and reducing the continuing negative impacts of climate change/global warming through the use of clean energy source for cooking in Lagos.
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“The government believes so much in this programme and it is considering making gas cylinders available to the people at subsidised rates. The campaign would be taken to the three senatorial districts and trickle down to the councils and the communities, where if approved by the state exco, residents will be requested to come forward with their cooking stoves for gas cylinders,” an official source told BusinessDay on Thursday.
The state is further working to ensure that gas plants are sited in various parts of the metropolis for easy accessibility. It was learnt that the local governments will be carried along in the programme. Partnering Lagos in the initiative are Oando Gas, NAPGAS, NIPCO, Banner Gas, among other members of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) who source product directly from NLNG.
Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos at the launch of the Eko Gas initiative in Surulere on June 11 had decried the under-utilisation of the LPG gas despite having it in abundance in Nigeria.
Taofiq Tijani, Lagos State commissioner for energy and mineral resources, had said there would be some incentives to encourage the masses to embrace the initiative by taking off about 20 percent of the total cost of the cylinders.
