Lagos — The Liquefied Petroleum Gas Retailers, LPGAR, wants the Federal Government to come up with a national policy embracing all stakeholders in the sector.
It also tasked the government on the enactment of a policy on standard gas cylinders as part of its liquefied petroleum gas, LPG, development plan.
The association, which is a branch of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas, NUPENG, said the expected policy on stakeholders should embrace communities, local councils, states, the federal government, producers, and different players in the LPG distribution chain.
The Branch National Chairman of LPGAR, Chika Umudu, who disclosed these in an interview in Lagos, said: “There should be a national policy that should embrace all stakeholders – communities, local councils, states, the federal government, producers and different players in the chain of distribution.
“Government has a lot to learn from the Indian model and it is good that the government under the ministry of petroleum held the India-Nigeria LPG summit in Abuja in October 2022 where Nigerian stakeholders applauded the success of the Indian model.
“The lessons from the summit should be put into use to develop the sector in Nigeria.”
Speaking against the backdrop of rampant cases of substandard gas cylinders in circulation in the country, which has led to several mishaps, Umudu said the call for the enactment of a policy on standard gas cylinders was necessary to encourage massive importation and production of standard cylinders.
“What importers do nowadays is to import what, in my estimation, are substandard cylinders which are affordable by average end-users.
“The issue of substandard cylinders is becoming worrisome. Most of the cylinders in circulation now fall short of what we can call standard,” he stated.
According to him, those who used to import quality cylinders are no longer importing while the company, Techno Gas which recently commissioned its cylinder production plant in Lagos, doesn’t seem to be producing again.
He noted that although retailers have critical roles to play in the ensuring the use of standard cylinders, the government should lead in the process.
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