About 2,000 manufacturers using gas to power their operations spend an average of N200bn a month on power generation, investigation by our correspondent has shown.

The reason, according to manufacturers, is their continued payment for gas in dollars instead of the local currency.

Each of the manufacturers currently using gas spends an average of N113m on gas every month, a figure that is brought about by the high exchange rate.

While the global price of gas goes for $2.50, manufacturers in Nigeria pay $8 for one standard cubic metre of gas.

“An operator who spent N15m a month on gas when the dollar exchanged for N150 currently spends N45m at the current exchange rate of N450/dollar,” the Director-General, Nigerian Textile Manufacturers Association, Hamman Kwajafa, said.

The Chairman, Gas Users Group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Dr. Michael Adebayo, said manufacturers had been paying over N100m for gas since the regime of buying gas in dollars started two years ago.

“Some people spend as much as N127m a month; others spend as much as N150m a month,” he said.

The manufacturers listed the reversal of the policy on gas as one of the major catalysts that would make the sector rebound this year.

Adebayo said the government needed to remove manufacturers from the category of commercial consumers of gas and put them under strategic industrial sector category.

He said, “Globally, manufacturers are put under strategic industrial sector among gas consumers. We generate employment. We use the gas; we do not sell the gas. People that are selling gas are the ones that are supposed to be on the commercial category, not the people who are using the gas to produce goods for export.

“It is terrible; nobody can budget. We cannot even increase the price of what we are selling because people are not even buying.”

Adebayo suggested an amendment to the Gas Subsidy Gazette of 2008 that put manufacturers in the category of commercial consumers.

A major player in the oil and gas sector and Managing Director of Falcon Petroleum Limited, Prof. Joseph Ezigbo, told our correspondent that gas was benchmarked in dollars because of government policy and the cost of gas flaring.

He said, “It is very expensive to bring gas out of the ground. In the past, our gas was cheap because it was a by-product of oil; so, the gas was already paid for along with the payment for oil.

“But now, we are billing for gas exclusively and the cost of producing just gas alone is higher. So, comparatively, if you put gas and diesel side by side, the gas is still cheaper.”

He added, “The government took a deliberate action to fix the price of gas so that people will not sell differently.

“But there is a proliferation of willing-buyer-willing-seller situation where people are buying not within the ambit of the Nigerian Gas Company, the gas company that controls the price. Under such situation, the gas can vary from $10 to as much as $15.”

http://www.energywatchng.com/manufacturers-worried-monthly-gas-expenses-hits-n220bn/

I feel sad for this country. I just filled my 12.5kg gas cylinder @ 4,500 naira( it used to be 3500 naira as at October, 2016) in a gas station at Kubwa, Abuja. Kerosene is not even an option cos it sells for 350-400 naira per a bottle of beer.

Second to comment

hmmm.. na wa oo

May God have mercy on us Nigerians.

may God help us.

APC
All promise cancelled
One chance government

GEJ my hero
Who get GEJ pics abeg

tigonana:
,

You go soon know how far when the time comes

Wetin concern God with una
Na God say make una vote for One chance government


Nigerians and God have mercy

kachi08:
May God have mercy on us Nigerians.

B

I used to support and believe in this country but am really getting tired, am losing it big time.

Some fools will still flood this thread with d "I dont give a Bleep" stuff....
I wonder how a right thinking,normal,grown up Nigerian won't give a Bleep about this?! The stuff ain't even funny!

Until when will Nigerians wake up to resist this government?
What is the limit of our docility?

Who says Buhari must finish his tenure before exit in 2019? How many Nigerians will be alive in 2019 following current suffering?

Nigerian youths must wake up and take their country back.

mehn companies don run finish for this man admin

believe it or not buhari is a badluck for nigeria...and 2019 stil far

very sad

Flets:
Until when will Nigerians wake up to resist this government?
What is the limit of our docility?

Who says Buhari must finish his tenure before exit in 2019? How many Nigerians will be alive in 2019 following current suffering?

Nigerian youths must wake up and take their country back.

seunny4lif:
APC
All promise cancelled
One chance government

GEJ my hero
Who get GEJ pics abeg

Escobars

Read the article well and understand. PMB didn't place them in the category they are neither did the policy of using dollars to buy gas start under him..

U clowns just jump and make kindergarten comments after reading titles

tigonana:
,

Grow up....u obviously still receive stipends from ur folks.



Wen u start paying bills u will knw wats up.

This is serious!

Hmmm

Buhari see ur life

amAZEing:
Ok...That is their own basket of Zobo Leaves.

when u no see money buy gas and kero and thin like a divided broom stick...
thats when u will start giving Bleep..u go give fork.join sef

Here comes firewood!....Its not poverty, it's management techniques.

Humm.....Am short of words cos am loosing it already.. God help us from the lion's den..

This is not funny o! I just filled our 12.5 KG we asked why d price shot up to 4500 the cashier said gas is purchased in dollars and they import from Niger republic to meet demand! i was perplexed and stunned!

even here 3k5 12.5kg of gas is now 5k.no more beans o