- Inaugurates Techno Oil’s gas cylinder plant
Peter Uzoho
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has stated that the federal government was targeting the adoption of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) commonly known as cooking gas in 33.3 million households in Nigeria over a period 10 years, representing 73 per cent adoption rate, and 13.8 million homes, representing 40 per cent adoption rate in five years.
This, he explained was part of the goals of the Federal Executive Councils approval of the National Gas Policy in 2017, which aims at achieving five million metric tons of domestic, commercial and industrial cooking gas utilisation in 10 years.
Osinbajo stated this yesterday in Lagos at the inauguration of Techno Oil’s one million tonnes per annum ultramodern LPG cylinder manufacturing plant, along Lekki-Epe Expressway, Lagos.
He said: “Our determination to prioritise the LPG sector development culminated in the Federal Executive Council’s approval of the National Gas policy in 2017, with dedicated input for the enhancement of the LPG sub-sector. Our driving vision has been to transform the sub-sector from a commodity sector based on export, to a value creation sector based on domestic utilisation and industrialisation.
“The goal is to achieve five million metric tonnes (5,000,000 MT) of domestic, commercial and industrial LPG utilisation in 10 years. Specifically, for household cooking, we are targeting a 40 percent adoption rate (i.e. 13.8m households) in 5 years, and 73 per cent adoption in 10 years (33.3m households). We believe that the sub-sector can create up to 2 million new direct and indirect jobs in Nigeria.
“We have also demonstrated our commitment by establishing an Inter-Ministerial Committee and a multi-stakeholder national coordinating body – the National LPG Expansion Programme.
“We correctly identified that it was necessary to emphasise coordination and collaboration, as previous attempts in enhancing LPG utilisation failed because of a fragmented approach within the Federal Government.”
According to the vice president, “Since the implementation of the coordination reforms – including the creation of a dedicated Project Management Office, great progress has been recorded, including the removal of five per cent VAT from the domestic pricing of LPG, as a first step in giving domestic output an advantage against imported products.”
He said that other progress recorded were the “Development of a Marketer Cylinder Owned Model instead of the current Consumer Cylinder Owned Model. This will eliminate the consumers’ up-front purchase of LPG cylinders which in some cases are substandard, replacing it with a cylinder exchange, whereby the consumer only pays for the content.
“No household will need to purchase or own an LPG cylinder. The Cylinders will be delivered and retrieved by the Marketers who will also be responsible for the maintenance and refurbishment of the cylinders, making LPG accessible to a whole new segment of non-LPG users”.
However, osinbajo noted that the “visionaries and management of Techno Oil deserve our hearty commendation for making this substantial investment in the development of the gas sector, the Federal Government will continue to work with you to ensure that you succeed”.
Earlier, he described the inauguration of the manufacturing plant as a landmark moment for Nigeria’s mid-downstream gas sub-sector, and a reminder that we must regard our abundant domestic gas resource as an important component of economic growth and national prosperity.
“Techno Oil’s investment auspiciously converges with our administration’s efforts to speedily diversify our economy, especially through domestic and indigenous solutions,” Osinbajo added.
Earlier in her welcome address, the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Techno Oil, Mrs. Nkechi Obi, said the LPG plant was built to bridge the infrastructural gap hindering the cooking gas adoption in Nigeria.
According to Obi, there was also a growing concern amongst stakeholders related to the saturation of the market with old, expired and sub-standard cylinders that have gained entry into our country through the activities of unscrupulous individuals and entities who show no regard for human lives and the Nigerian economy.
“Techno Oil is on a mission to correct this anomaly in collaboration with critical stakeholders as we are poised to deploy cylinders of international quality into the Nigerian market, produced in Nigeria for Nigerians.
“The growth population of cylinders in the country is less than two million. Our current production capacity is five million; instantly, Nigeria becomes a net exporter of cylinders in West Africa. We have just two million cylinders”.
