The Nigeria National Petroleum Company Ltd says it is partnering with an Indian company to enhance accessibility and affordability of liquified petroleum gas (cooking gas) in the country.
Group chief executive officer, NNPC Ltd, Melee Kyari Melee Kyari disclosed this at the WLGPA India-Nigeria LPG summit in Abuja, with the theme ‘Energising the future: leveraging the Indian experience to achieve Nigerian national LPG aspiration.’
Organisers said the summit is targeted at learning and implementing India’s successful LPG models and advancements in the last 10 years.
Kyari, who was represented by the group executive director, downstream, Adeyemi Adetunji, said in 2016, the Indian government pursued an intensive LPG penetration drive in the country, providing free cylinders, stoves and valves to end users.
This, according to him, increased the country’s LPG consumption from 62 per cent in 2016 to 99.8 per cent by August 2019, setting the country’s current consumption at 30 million tonnes.
He said NNPC is positioned to deploy 740 LPG micro distribution centres and 37 filling plants in its 541 gas stations within the next three years, to increase Nigeria’s 1.7 million tonnes of LPG consumption recorded last year
The chairman, Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Shrikant Vaidya, acknowledged LPG as a transformational fuel capable of lifting the country out of poverty, adding that learning from the Indian experience would eliminate the use of firewood, coal and kerosene by millions of Nigerians for cooking.
Citing a report by WHO, Vaidya said “smoke inhaled by women from unclean fuel is equivalent to smoking 400 sticks of cigarettes in an hour, thus ruining their health. Moreover, by releasing LPG connections directly into their homes, it empowers rural women.”
