What government can do to reduce cost of cooking gas, By Anthony Agbo

, is one of the commodities hit the hardest by inflation this year. As a friend of mine joked recently, “cooking gas is now a status symbol in Nigeria.” When in January, a kilogramme of cooking gas was selling for N336, many thought it was too high and hoped it would get adjusted at the end of winter because usually during winter, the demand for LPG rises, and so does its price, until sometime around February when demand starts to drop.

When businesses experience rising costs in their operations, they shift the burden at every level until it reaches the final consumers. The final consumers, in this case, are the poor Nigerian masses. Cooking gas is more or less an essential commodity that is used across the spectrum of the Nigerian population. Sadly, these masses are already bedeviled with untold hardship following our country’s current harsh economic conditions.

Nigerians are going through a lot already. The economic downturn brought about by COVID-19 is still lingering. Businesses are struggling to stay afloat. Workers are still losing their jobs, and those who have managed to survive have had their salaries slashed by varying percentages. Like farmers and artisans, the self-employed are not spared as many can no longer freely carry out their daily activities without fear of attack by bandits, terrorists, and sundry criminals.

It is evident that there is no magic wand that can reverse the current situation overnight. A lot needs to be done over time to stabilise the naira and close the huge infrastructural gaps, among other solutions, but the low-hanging fruit for the government is to remove the 7.5 per cent VAT on imported cooking gas. This will, no doubt, reduce the pressure on the product’s price.

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