Nigerians Groan as 12kg Cooking Gas Price Increased by 55% in One Year

Arthur Eriye

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that the price of 12.5 kilograms (kg) of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), better known as cooking gas, increased by 55.66 per cent year-on-year.

According to the NBS, Nigerians paid an average price of N14,261.57 for refilling a 12.5kg cylinder of cooking gas in July 2024 compared to N9,162.11 in July 2023.

The NBS latest price watch report on LPG (cooking gas) for July, showed that the cost of refilling a 12.5kg cylinder dropped by 9.37 per cent month-on-month.

“The average retail price for refilling a 12.5kg Cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas decreased by 9.37% on a month-on-month basis from N15,736.27 in June 2024 to N14,261.57 in July 2024. On a year-on-year basis, this rose by 55.66 per cent from N9,162.11 in July 2023,” the bureau said.

In its state profile analysis, the NBS said Gombe recorded the highest average retail price for the refilling of a 12.5kg cylinder of cooking gas with N15,872.22, followed by Yobe and Taraba at N15,823.32 and N15,625.00, respectively.

“Contrarily, the lowest average price was recorded in Bauchi with N13,314.47, followed by Enugu and Nassarawa with N13,411.39 and N13,413.81 respectively,” NBS said.

Across the geopolitical zones, the NBS report showed that the north-east recorded the highest average retail price at N15,075.16, followed by the north-west (N14,454.86) and the north-central (N13,611.68).

In addition, the NBS said the average retail price for refilling a 5kg cylinder of cooking gas decreased by 14.23 percent on a month-on-month basis — from N6,966.03 recorded in June 2024 to N5,974.55 in July 2024.

On the contrary, the bureau said the price increased, “by 46.69 per cent on a year-on-year basis from N4,072.87 in July 2023”. 

“On state profile analysis, Borno recorded the highest average price for refilling a 5kg Cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) with N7,088.59, followed by Yobe with N6,935.50, and Sokoto with N6,750.00,” the NBS added. 

It added, “On the other hand, Delta recorded the lowest price with N5,392.86, followed by Zamfara and Kogi with N5,431.25 and N5,560.63 respectively.”

The bureau added that the north-east recorded the highest average retail price for refilling a 5kg cylinder of LPG with N6,446.53.

The agency said the north-central came next, recording a price of N6,042.33 while the south-south recorded the lowest at N5,654.04.