The President of the Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers (NALGAM), Oladapo Olatunbosun, has stated that eliminating import duties on cooking gas materials would not immediately lower prices.
He explained that prices remain on the rise due to additional minor costs that contribute to the overall expense of gas.
Why cooking gas prices are yet to drop
Olatunbosun’s comment follows the Nigeria Customs Service’s (NCS) implementation of the removal of import duties on cooking gas and all imported equipment and spare parts associated with Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) as incentives for their adoption.
He said that although the government has waived import duties on gas and related equipment, gas prices remain high due to other contributing expenses.
He said:
“This policy is not new. It is true that the government said we should not pay duty on gas and some gas equipment but the situation we have now is that the price of gas is still on the high side. Yes they have started implementing that but that does not mean there are no other expenses. The expected effect is that gas prices should reduce drastically but the prices have not gone down significantly.”
He added that the implementation of the policy must be well monitored for the removal of gas duty to translate to lower prices.
The federal government had previously decided to lower the cost of cooking gas, which has become increasingly expensive and out of reach for many households.
These incentives were introduced to alleviate living expenses and support Nigeria’s shift toward cleaner energy sources.
