Cooking gas retailers have asked the FG to develop a policy to combat substandard cylinders. .

The Liquefied Petroleum Gas Retailers Association (LPGAR) has urged the Federal Government to develop a standard gas cylinder policy as part of its LPG development strategy.

According to the association, which is a branch of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG), such a policy would ensure that only standard cylinders were in use in the country and would prevent disasters caused by the use of substandard cylinders.

Chika Umudu, the Branch National Chairman of LPGAR, made the remarks in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Sunday, against the backdrop of widespread use of substandard gas cylinders, which has resulted in a number of mishaps.

According to Umudu, the policy should encourage widespread importation and production of standard cylinders.

“What importers do nowadays is import what, in my opinion, are substandard cylinders that are affordable to average end-users,” he said.

“The issue of substandard cylinders is becoming increasingly concerning.

“Most cylinders in use today fall short of what we can call standard.

“While retailers play important roles in the process, the government should take the lead,” he said.

“From our observations, those who used to import quality cylinders are no longer importing; even Techno Gas, which recently commissioned its cylinder production plant in Lagos, does not appear to be producing again; if it does, we can’t find it in the market,” Umudu said.

“We hope that what happened to other producers in the past does not happen to it.

“The government is supposed to provide all necessary incentives to encourage domestic production.”

He stated that camp cylinders, which were used by the majority of the country’s low-income earners, appeared to be the most vulnerable.

“I equally think the system should re-examine the purpose of camp gas vis-à-vis safety.

“There is a need for the government to invest massively in the sector or provide intervention funds for private investors to stop the rise in Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) prices,” he said.

He directed that the government invest in the sector, or that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) provide some intervention funds for private investors.

“By doing so, we would be preparing for the energy transition, which is already underway. It will also aid in our decarbonization campaign,” he added.

In terms of the association’s expectations for 2023, Umudu stated that it anticipates improvements in the process of LPG policy formulation in 2023.

He stated that this was necessary because the sector could not reach the desired heights unless a people-oriented policy was diligently implemented.

“There has been no coherence in the process of developing and implementing policies for LPG development in the country,” he said.

“Normally, one would anticipate and hope for a better future. In this regard, our union anticipates a better 2023 for Nigeria’s LPG sector.

“Better 2023,” in terms of adequate supply, smooth distribution, safer supply, distribution, and use, affordability, and growth in LPG usage in the country.

“I think this can be attributed to several factor such as inadequate attention from the presidency, interference by big commercial concerns especially the major marketers and conflicting policy directions from different regulators and tiers of the government.

“There should be a national policy that should embrace all stakeholders – communities, local councils, states, the federal government, producers and different players in the chain of distribution.

“Government has a lot to learn from the Indian model and it is good that the government under the ministry of petroleum held the India-Nigeria LPG summit in Abuja in October 2022 where Nigerian stakeholders applauded the success of the Indian model.

“The summit’s lessons should be used to develop the sector in Nigeria,” he said.

“Having said that, our association is not expecting magic in 2023 because available infrastructure and policy framework cannot move the sector forward unless there is an urgent change in direction,” the president of the LPG retailers said.