The Federal Government has expressed regret over Nigerians resort to use of traditional energy means on account of skyrocketing cost of cooking gas
Besides,the government said there was no reason why anyone should use firewood, kerosene and charcoal for cooking especially when the country was blessed with abundance of gas.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on LPG, Mr Dayo Adesina ,said this in Asaba during two-day LPG sensitisation and awareness campaign organised by the National LPG Expansion Plan, Office of the Vice President in conjunction with the Delta State Government
He said the Federal Government would procure 10 million gas cylinders to marketers for onward distribution to end users which would be exchanged from various homes.
He also said Delta State was strategic to the National LPG Expansion plan in view of its contributions to oil and gas development in the country.
He lauded Governor Ifeanyi Okowa for setting up four training centres for manufacturing of low emission stove in the state.
The governor implored the Federal Government and relevant policy makers 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.
According to him: “Just recently, world leaders gathered in Glasgow, Ireland, in a Summit (COP-26) to dicuss 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 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.
He called on investors to come into the oil and gas sector and improve the availability of LPG in the 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.
892300cookie-checkGas:Nigerians Have No Business With Firewood,Charcoal -FG
