President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has announced plans to reduce the price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, also known as cooking gas. He also promised to start direct sales of the product to consumers should the existing distributors fail to allow the price crash in cooking gas.
However, operators in the sector have disagreed with the plan, saying the businessman was planning to monopolise the LPG sector. They kicked against the move on Monday, as the dealers expressed fear of a possible monopoly.
Speaking during a recent tour of his refinery by some local and foreign guests, Dangote stressed that the current price of cooking gas is expensive and not affordable for the common people who depend on firewood for cooking.
He disclosed that the refinery now produces 22,000 tonnes of LPG daily and it is ramping up production for distribution into the Nigerian market, especially as Nigerians move towards the use of gas for cooking.
Speaking to members of the Lagos Business School CGEO Africa, at the refinery in Lekki, Dangote said, “The one that we didn’t write, which you must have seen, is LPG. Currently, we do LPG of about 2,000 tonnes per day. You know Nigeria is gradually moving to the usage of LPG. But I believe it is expensive, but right now we’re trying to bring down the price and make it cheaper.”
Dangote warned that “if the distributors are not trying to bring it down, we’ll go directly and sell to the consumers, so that people will now transit from firewood or kerosene to LPG for cooking.”
The PUNCH recalls that Dangote plans to start the direct distribution of petrol, diesel, and aviation fuel to marketers nationwide in August, with 4,000 CNG-powered buses procured for the exercise.
Currently, the price of cooking hovers around N1,000 and N1,300 per kilogramme. Dangote said this would be brought down to ensure affordability.
Operators kick
It appears operators in the LPG market are not pleased with Dangote’s plan to disrupt the sector.
Speaking in an interview with our correspondent, the former Chairman of the LPG and Natural Gas Downstream Group of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Godwin Okoduwa, described the plan as monopolistic.
