' Hopes As Cooking Gas Price Crashes '

Nigerians are expected to heave a sigh of relief soon, as prices of Liquefied Petroleum Gas( LPG) or commonly known as cooking gas plummet further.

Presently, prices have nosedived a bit in the market, contrary to early first quarter of the year, when 12.5kilogramme of LPG, was as high as N10,000 or more depending on the marketers. But the prices are going to come down sharply,  following the decision of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to exempt local Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) from duty and Value Added Tax (VAT) while other products that are approved in Oil and Gas Free Zones will also enjoy a 75 per cent rebate.

The development, no doubt, has enlivened Nigerians, especially onsumers, who have been looking for means of coping with the hike in the price of Petroleum Motoring Spirit ( PMS), which was caused by the recent removal of subsides paid on fuel by the Federal Government.

Data obtained by News Mirror, as of Tuesday, 22nd August, data from Beta Prices, an online marketplace where goods and services from reputable sellers are displayed for sale show that a kilogram of gas costs between N650 and N750 depending on location. Therefore, a 12.5 kg cylinder will cost between N8,125 and N9,375 to fill.

With the latest development, prices of cooking gas and other products from the oil and gas-free zones are likely to go down, giving relief to Nigerians who have been sapped by the current price hikes on all items.

The price of cooking gas started to crash in the first quarter of the year and hope for a further cut in the price of the products came following the decision of NCS to immediately implement the recommendations of a joint committee constituted by three agencies of government.

Recall that the trio of Adewale Adeniyi, the Acting Comptroller-General of Customs, Adesoji Adesugba, the Managing Director of the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority and Sen. Tijjani Kaura, the Managing Director of Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority had on July 28, this year,  constituted a joint committee to streamline customs’ operations within the free zones.

Martin Odeh, Head, of Corporate Communications, NEPZA stated that Wale Adeniyi, the NCS Boss has promised to immediately implement the 75 per cent rebate and exemption from customs duty and VAT, the recommendation of the committee that fell within the operational policy of his agency.

“We must do what is necessary to boost the economy”, quoting Adeniyi who was worried to hear that some of his agency’s actions had inhibited the free flow of revenues from the scheme”.

“We were meant to have a coordinated collaboration and cooperation to ensure the country obtains significant benefits from the free zone scheme. All hands must now be on deck to make that happen.

“In demonstrating our commitment to streamline our policy and operations for effective management of the free zones, I wish to suggest that this committee is converted to become the Implementation Committee that will midwife the implementation of these recommendations. I wish to thank all of you for a job well done,’’ the Acting CGC said.

The rebate and the exemption from VAT are some of the incentives contained in the Finance Ministry Circular F182079 of December 2022 and the 4th October letter referenced HMFBNP/NCS/LPG/10/2022, and part of the recommendations of the report submitted by the committee last Friday asked for the immediate creation of procedure codes to kickstart the implementation of the incentives in the Finance Ministry circular F182079 and the letter referenced HMFBNP/NCS/LPG/10/2022.

The manufacturers in the free zones are also to enjoy other incentives that comply with regulatory procedures provided in OGFZA and NEPZA Regulations with respect to inspection of free zones containers without the knowledge of the Authorities, delay in the inspection of cargo, stoppage of cargo in transit and raising a query on importation of same as well as posting of customs officers to the free zones without the knowledge of the two Authorities.