The average retail cost for a 12.5kg cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) recorded a year-on-year rise of 12.31%, from N10,248.97 in December 2022 to N11,510.16 in December 2023.
This is according to the latest LPG (cooking gas) price watch for December 2023 from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The NBS report also showed an increase of 8.70% in the average price of 5kg of cooking gas, from N4,565.56 in December 2022 to N4,962.87 in December 2023.
On a month-to-month basis, the average cost of a 5kg cooking gas rose from N4,828.18 in November 2023 to N4,962.87 in December 2023.
The cost of the commodity, however, varies across the states with Adamawa, Jigawa and Ogun states recording the highest prices while states in the South-East such as Imo and Ebonyi recorded the lowest prices.
The North-East geo-political zone recorded the highest average retail price for refilling a 5kg cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) at N5,256.61.
Following closely, the North-West reported a price of N5,144.50, whereas the South-East recorded the lowest retail price at N4,155.59.
A state by state analysis shows that the top 10 states with highest price of the commodity during the review period were Adamawa, Jigawa, Lagos, Oyo, Benue, Ogun, Bauchi, Kano, Kaduna and Cross River states.
Residents of Adamawa state paid the highest price for cooking gas across the country at N5,725.33 in December 2023. The price of gas increased by 16.05% in the state over the one year from N4933.33 in December 2022, followed by Jigawa where residents paid N5,686.88 per 5kg in December 2023 and a year-on-year basis, the cost of cooking gas increased by 22.83% from N4,933.33 recorded in December 2022.
In Lagos, the price for 5kg in December was the N5,671.05 while it increased by 16.75% (N4,856.25) on a year on year basis. Oyo state was the fourth highest with the average cost of a 5kg gas in December 2023 at N5,625.79, an increase of 18.47 per cent from the N4,748.68 it was sold for in December 2022 while Benue was 5th with N5,550.56 per 5kg in December 2023, representing an increase of 13.66% from the N4,883.33 recorded in December 2022.
Ogun and Bauchi states were 6th and 7th as 5kg of the commodity sold for N4,330 and N,4500, representing increase of 27.03% and 22.23% respectively, year on year, while Kano was 8th with price of N5,446.24 for 5kg in December 2023, representing an increase of 21.93% from the N4,466.67 recorded in December 2022.
Kaduna and Cross River states were 9th and 10th on the list with price of N5,403.23 and N5,373.75 in December 2023, representing increase of 10.56% and 15.39% respectively.
