Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — The Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, says it will continue to sensitise Nigerians on the need to transit from using firewood and kerosene to Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, consumption.
It said LPG consumption will increase the country’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP.
The Zonal Controller of DPR in Port Harcourt, Mr Bassey Nkanga, explained that LPG is cheaper, sufficient and available for all Nigerians as the government was doing everything possible for all Nigerians to key into LPG usage.
Nkanga, at the technical workshop organised for LPG depot operators, refilling plants and retailers, also disclosed that the Federal Government has removed VAT from gas to make it cheaper than kerosene, as an incentive for every Nigerian to transit into LPG consumption.
“Gas is cheaper than kerosene. If you consider the price of kerosene now which is about N250 to N300per litre and sometimes it’s not even available, unlike gas that is readily available everywhere.
“Do you know that the relationship between the GDP of a country depends on the amount of energy consumed, LPG consumption is going to increase our GDP. If we can get 80percent of Nigerians’ home depending on LPG, it will benefit the country economically.
“One major reason that government hs launched this usage of gas is because we don’t want our environment to be contaminated with soot and other obnoxious gas,” he said.
LPG penetration: Rivers to set up taskforce on gas monitoring
The Zonal DPR boss also said guidelines and requirements are given to LPG operators before they are licensed, in a bid to avoid explosion, anouncing that LPG retail outlets which did not meet DPR guidelines have been shut down.
He also disclosed that add-ons, (gas plants attached to filling stations) have been encouraged to move to rural areas, for deeper LPG penetration,
According to him, “We are ready nationwide, this campaign has been on. It’s not only in Port Harcourt but in every state. We have visited worship centres, motorparks and markets. We have covered over 60 to 70percents of the LGAs in Rivers State and the campaign is is still on.
“We are encouraging investors to key into the government’s LPG policy, we’ve introduced what we called stand alone, which is about one to two tonnes of LPG storage plant in a rural community. We have removed all bottlenecks to ensure that investors get to do LPG business because it is a very viable business.
“Imagine what will happen if the population of people in Rivers State get to use LPG.”