President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has revealed plans to reduce the price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), popularly known as cooking gas, across the country. He also threatened to bypass current distributors and sell directly to consumers if they fail to lower prices in line with market realities.

Dangote made the disclosure during a recent tour of the Dangote Refinery in Lekki, Lagos, where he hosted members of the Lagos Business School CGEO Africa and other international guests.

According to him, the current cost of LPG is unaffordable for the average Nigerian, especially low-income earners who still rely on firewood and kerosene for cooking. He disclosed that the refinery now produces about 2,000 tonnes of LPG daily and plans to increase this to 22,000 tonnes per day to meet growing domestic demand.

“We’re trying to bring down the price and make LPG more affordable. If current distributors fail to reduce prices, we’ll go directly to consumers so that people can shift from using firewood or kerosene to gas,” Dangote said.

Currently, the price of cooking gas in Nigeria ranges between ₦1,000 and ₦1,300 per kilogram. Dangote’s intervention is aimed at crashing the price to make the product more accessible nationwide.

However, the move has drawn criticism from key players in the industry, who fear the billionaire industrialist may be attempting to monopolise the LPG market.

Speaking to journalists, former Chairman of the LPG and Natural Gas Downstream Group of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Godwin Okoduwa, described Dangote’s plan as monopolistic and potentially harmful to the industry’s progress.

Okoduwa recalled how Nigeria’s LPG market grew from 70,000 metric tonnes in 2007 to over 1.3 million metric tonnes in 2022 through collaborative efforts between the government, the Nigeria LNG, and private investors.

“This growth was achieved through joint efforts. If there had not been an existing market, there would be nothing for him to build on,” he said. “We welcome his investment, but he should respect existing players and focus on collaboration, not domination.”

He also challenged Dangote to expand LPG infrastructure in underserved areas such as the Northeast, where gas usage remains very low, instead of disrupting established market structures.

Similarly, the Executive Secretary and CEO of the Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers, Mr. Bassey Essien, questioned the feasibility of Dangote selling gas directly to consumers or reducing prices significantly.

He argued that despite earlier claims, the Dangote refinery has not yet delivered petrol to consumers at affordable rates, making it doubtful the same would be achieved with cooking gas.

“As it stands, I don’t see the refinery selling LPG directly to you and me. The distribution system is complex, and bypassing it is not as easy as it sounds,” Essien stated.

While industry stakeholders push back, Dangote insists the primary aim is to ease the burden on Nigerians and accelerate the country’s transition to cleaner cooking energy.