WORRIED by low patronage and concerns for the environment, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has called for improved awareness on the use of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) to boost its consumption in line with the Federal Government aspirations.
The Operations Controller, DPR, Warri Zonal Office, Mr Asuquo Antai, made the call on Friday at the “2018 DPR/LPG Marketers Stakeholders Forum” in Warri, Delta.
Antai, who was represented by Mr Ogbe Nicholas at the event, said people shy away from LPG because of the fear of the high risk associated with its usage.
He, however, disclosed that it was easier and safer to harbour gas than electricity which he noted, about 80 per cent of Nigerians are comfortable with.
The theme of the forum is: “Stakeholders Relationship Building and Management: Promoting a Safe and Sustainable Utilisation of LPG.”
The controller said that the theme was chosen in line with the federal government aspiration to grow LPG investment and gas domestication in the country.
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“As a domestic cooking fuel, LPG presents a valuable opportunity to combating climate change, reduced deforestation and improved community health, economy and livelihood.
“LPG has a relatively low emission when compared to other cooking means like kerosene, firewood and others,” he said.
Antai noted that despite the huge natural gas reserved in the country, and the various intervention by the federal government in the LPG sector, the use of cooking gas has not been fully realised.
“Therefore, every stakeholder, producers, depot owners, operators and retailers have become very important to achieving the government aspiration of growing the product usage which will eventually translate into growing business.
” In this regard, growing the LPG business will result in job creation, economic stability and growth,” he said.
Antai, however, assured the LPG operators of the regulatory agency’s commitment to engaging all stakeholders with a view to promoting the efficiency and security of supply of the product in the country.
He advised the operators to adhere strictly to the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) of the regulatory agency noting that all licenses without certified SOP shall be rejected.
Also speaking, Mr Gabriel Ilere, the Managing Director, PNG Gas said Nigeria ranked 9th gas producing nations in the world but still import LPG.
He urged DPR to sanitise the LPG business to entrench professionalism and ensure those who do not have a passion for business do not invest in it.
Some of the stakeholders called for the removal of a bottleneck in license renewal and also create the enabling environment to encourage the ease of doing business.
It will be recalled that despite the huge gas deposit in Nigeria, the current consumption rate of LPG in the country is about 600 metric tons per annum and the per capita is about 2KG.
This figure is quite low when compared to other African countries like Ghana with 4.3KG and Sierra Leone about 9KG per capita in LPG consumption.
Similarly, according to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, about 66 per cent of the Nigerian population still relies on the use of firewood.
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