President Bola Tunubu has been called upon to urgently intervene in the high cost of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, popularly known as cooking gas in the country.
The appeal was made by Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC in Osun State while speaking with journalists on Sunday in Osogbo.
Oyintiloye also held that the cost of the cooking gas was becoming unbearable for the masses.
The APC chieftain said although the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, on February 22, announced that the federal government had asked LPG producers to stop exporting the commodity added that the decision had not yielded any positive results in the reduction in price of the item locally.
He suspected that the rising prices of the item might be as a result of LPG producers secretly exporting the products.
“It is alarming that the cost of refiling a 12.5kg of cylinder in many part of the country now ranges between N17,500 and N18,000.
“As a result of this exorbitant prices, many LPG users who could not afford the price were gradually shifting to solid fuel like charcoal and firewood.
“The shift to the use of charcoal and firewood by the masses could aggravate climate change challenges and its adverse effects such as deforestation, desertification and soil degradation that could lead to erosion.
“The use of solid fuel can also lead to air pollution with carbon monoxide emitted from solid fuel, which is harmful to human beings because it binds to hemoglobin in the blood, reducing the ability of blood to carry oxygen to the body’s organs.
“This will in turn pose serious danger to the respiratory organ, fatigue, headaches, confusion, and dizziness to human system due to inadequate oxygen delivery to the brain, thereby reduces overall well-being of people.
“Human being depend on green plants for our daily supply of oxygen, while giving back carbon dioxide to the plants.
“In an attempt to substitute clean cooking gas for firewoods and charcoal by cutting down green trees, this will affect human survival”, he said.
The Osun APC chieftain, however, urged the president to drastically crash the price of the product in the interest of the masses and to save the country’s forest and ecosystem.
He insisted that while many Nigerians were struggling to look for what to eat, the means of cooking their food should not be made difficult for them again.
“I know Mr President has a listening ear and he will do something urgent about this matter.
“The announcement by the petroleum minister(state) on the ban on the exportation of the product is a good one, but it has not started having any positive effects on the masses.
“The fuel subsidy removal is biting hard on the people and electricity supply is not stable.
“All these are impacting negatively on Nigerians and solutions should be provided without further delay.
“All relevant and critical stakeholders must join hands with the president to tackle the challenges in the oil and gas industry,” he said.
