Gas Marketers Back Dangote Plan to Cut Cooking Gas Price

The Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers (NALPGAM) has thrown its support behind the Dangote Petroleum Refinery’s plan to reduce the cost of cooking gas across the country.

The association said the move aligns with their long-standing campaign to make gas more affordable for poor households and reduce the heavy dependence on firewood for cooking. NALPGAM President, Oladapo Olatunbosun, confirmed this during an interview, stating that the idea of slashing gas prices has been at the heart of their appeals to government authorities for years.

The Dangote Refinery, which currently produces around 2,000 tonnes of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) daily, recently announced efforts to bring the price down. Speaking to a group of business leaders at the facility in Lekki, Aliko Dangote said the refinery is ready to bypass distributors and sell directly to retail marketers if current middlemen continue to keep prices high. His goal, he said, is to help Nigerians switch from firewood and kerosene to gas.

While some in the industry fear the plan may hurt smaller operators, Olatunbosun believes the overall market is large enough for everyone. He acknowledged the concerns of investors who built storage facilities with loans, saying it’s understandable that they might be worried about recouping their investments. However, he added that with the right adjustments, these operators can still find their footing in a changing market.

He explained that direct sales do not mean ordinary citizens will buy gas at the refinery gates. Instead, the refinery will sell to gas plant owners and retailers, reducing the influence of middlemen who often inflate prices.

For NALPGAM, the focus remains on the millions of Nigerians who cannot afford gas at current prices. Olatunbosun stressed that the only way to increase gas usage across the country is to make it cheap enough for rural and low-income households.

He said the group had formally appealed to Dangote to lower profit margins and make gas more accessible to the poor. According to him, the refinery’s decision to take action shows a willingness to listen to those concerns and work toward a solution that benefits ordinary Nigerians.

Olatunbosun concluded by saying that cutting the price of gas is not just an economic decision but a social one, with the potential to improve health, reduce deforestation, and offer safer, cleaner energy for millions of homes.