Rising cooking gas (LPG) price compounds woes of Nigerians (2)

Dangote Refinery has finally commenced production of petrol (PMS) in Nigeria! This is great news and it’s good tidings for the economy at this moment of deep economic turmoil in our national life. The other of Nigeria’s economic sectors, barring any unimpressive status from all economic indicators, not minding vested interests, sectional points of view; the global warming threats, the great importance of agricultural food security, and economic growth through exports, it has been proved very clearly that our economy is significantly tied to the performance of the nation’s oil industry which is, indeed, part of the energy business in this discourse! The coming on stream of these refined petroleum products is something to rejoice about by all forward looking citizens. Although it is not going to crash the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) instantly, it will start a downward trend in product pricing, as NNPCL (the sole off-taker) is urged and expected to start the downward review of the PMS pump price per litre. This development (the production of petrol within the economy for the first time since 1996; by a refining facility of 650,000 barrels per day) will surely impact Nigeria’s present economic indices, namely, inflation, uncontrollable tumbling of the Naira’s exchange rate, rising unemployment figures, poor productivity profile that reflects a sluggish GDP growth rate, with general insecurity in the land, and more, in a positive macroeconomic light.

Energy security for the improvement of the nation’s economy shall involve adequate provision of locally produced refined products (including LPG and CNG) for daily domestic needs – for cooking, heating of homes or cooling systems, power generation, driving of automobiles at low energy cost, among others. One interesting thing about the oil and gas business in hydrocarbon operations is that investors in the business establish refining facilities to harvest gas from the oil wells (in most cases occurs), while oil drilling and extraction of crude is produced concurrently at the same time. The production processes actually involve simultaneous actions in harvesting of natural gases (methane, ethane, propane, butane, pentane, etc) that surge out first with tremendous pressure in the process of crude oil extraction. The upstream subsector of the oil and gas industry should consider very seriously the local production (by borrowing a leaf from the Dangote Refinery) that could cater for daily domestic needs rather than exporting everything to foreign trading partners; while the home front suffers by importing processed gases at higher and very exorbitant rate (like the current price of LPG) with our very scarce foreign exchange, which compounds the woes of many Nigerians presently. 

If LPG could also be processed locally, the price of cooking gas would drastically crash because we have natural gas in abundance that we even generously waste through decades of flaring in the crude oil extraction process. Why should Nigeria continue to be importing cooking gas from northern Africa and some other countries of the world, while we are sitting on trillions of cubic feet of natural gas? It is folly that corruption has blinded the managers of this economy for too long, not to truly plan and direct aright the private investors (with commensurate encouragement and government backing in the sector) to engage in local productions in the downstream subsector of the economy. Such strategic management of locally processed cooking gas shall obviously improve the favourable pricing profile for domestic consumption of the substrate at ridiculously low rates.

It is true that the nation’s economy has been poorly and badly managed in the past as a result of the endemic and systemic corrupt practices which have eaten deep into the nation’s fabric, but there is still hope for the economy to rise again! If the managers of the nation’s commonwealth could start now to patriotically implement all the economic policies that shall favour economic growth, and stop financial leakages in the nation’s treasury, Nigeria shall rise again. This is because the potential to overcome the past misdeeds are enormous in the macroeconomic purview. This economy has wasted heavily in the hands of looters for so many decades, but, the onus lies on whoever is in charge to start turning things around for the interest of the state. It is doable, if the leaders and the economic managers are willing and determined to do so by plugging all the fraudulent loopholes, backed with extant laws. Nigerians presently deserve to be governed well and with respect, rather than treating citizens like animals, socioeconomically. The big question I pose to our past leaders (in the legislative and executive arms of government; in the three tiers, vis-a-viz local, state and federal governments) is this: “What has it profited thou to run the state down by amassing stupendous wealth inordinately with the public condemnation, after the EFCC and others had openly embarrassed you for financial fraud, before the entire world?”

We, Nigerians, better have a second thought on this because, after all said and done, “all is vanity!”                 

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