The Federal Government is set to procure 10 million gas cylinders to marketers for onward distribution to end-users which would be exchanged from various homes.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on liquefied petroleum gas, Mr Dayo Adesina disclosed this at a two-day LPG sensitisation and awareness campaign organised by the National LPG Expansion Plan, Office of the Vice President in conjunction with the DeltaState Government held in Asaba on Monday.
Mr Adesina said there was no reason why anyone should use firewood, kerosene and charcoal for cooking especially when the country was blessed with an abundance of gas.
He described Delta as being strategic to the National LPG Expansion plan in view of its contributions to oil and gas development in the country.
He commended Governor Ifeanyi Okowa for setting up four training centres for manufacturing low emission stoves in the state.
The state governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa used the occasion to call on the Federal Government and relevant policymakers to initiate steps towards reducing the rising cost of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in the country.
He said that the theme of the campaign “Stimulating Delta State Socioeconomic Growth Through LPG Adoption And Expansion” was apt as the world moves towards greener sources of energy because of the adverse effects of fossil fuel on the environment.
Represented by his Chief Economic Adviser, Dr Kingsley Emu, Governor Okowa said stakeholders must work to reduce the rising cost of LPG if the objective of the National LPG Expansion plan was to be realised.
He thanked the Office of the Vice President for choosing Delta as one of the pilot states for the public enlightenment campaign.
“Just recently, world leaders gathered in Glasgow, Ireland, in a Summit (COP-26) to discuss the adverse effects of climate change occasioned by the use of fossil fuels and the need to move towards cleaner energy.
“This makes the adoption of LPG as a transition fuel to greener sources exigent, and Delta State is keen to play a vital role in this process and will give this awareness programme maximum support.
He said Delta was home to 40 per cent of the nation’s natural gas endowments, hence a large number of oil and gas companies operate in the state.
He added that there were prospects for the establishment of gas processing plants and gas-related industries in the state with implications for employment generation, inclusive economic growth and sustainable development.
“However, as we adopt LPG as the fuel to drive the socio-economic activities of the economy, we must acknowledge a big challenge currently confronting the populace, the issue of high price of LPG in the market.
“At the rate the price is skyrocketing, LPG is gradually getting out of the reach of the middle class and common man.
“The price increase has been linked to several factors including the VAT re-introduction, devaluation of the naira and large importation of LPG vis-a-vis low production locally.
“It is imperative that policy makers find a way to mitigate this upward trend in the price of LPG to give succour to our people and if the goals of the LPG expansion plan is to be realised,” he said
He bemoaned the continuous flaring of gas by most oil and gas companies and urged them to expand their production facility to include the capacity to convert gas to LPG for use because of the untapped potentials in the LPG market.
The governor added that his administration had carried out significant reforms to create investor friendly climate in the state including tax harmonisation, easy access to land and dispute resolution mechanisms to handle conflicts when they arise.
“As we embrace the use of LPG in every sector of our economy as the source of energy, safety concerns become paramount.
“We cannot forget in a hurry the gas explosion incident at Agbor in January this year, which, sadly, claimed many lives.
“As a government, we have put mechanisms in place to avert similar occurrences and that includes the setting up of a committee to advise the government on guidelines for the establishment of gas plants in the state,” the governor stated.
Welcoming guests to the event, State Commissioner for Oil and Gas, Prince Emmanuel Amgbaduba said the objective of the sensitization was to display the economic and sustainability plan for adopting LPG for domestic use, power generation, agriculture and transportation amongst others.
He said that the adoption of LPG for clean cooking would mitigate against deforestation, reduce depletion of the ozone layer and boost revenue generation in the state.
YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
Lagos Is Second Least Liveable City In The World For 2021
Lagos is the second least liveable city in the world for the year 2021. This is according to the most recent annual ranking put together by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)…
CLAIM 1: A Twitter user claims UNICEF said any efforts to block children from accessing pornography might infringe their human rights.
VERDICT: MISLEADING!
and then