Nigeria’s LPG Industry and National Security navigating into dangerous ‘waters’

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• Author: Muyiwa Ige(LPG Stakeholder and Consultant)

There’s negligible or no doubt, that a precision missile strike from a sound new model F-35 fighter jet or a new caterpillar bulldozer driven by a very skillful operator who’s had a rich and very delicious breakfast of fried rice with salad/ grilled chicken, will easily reduce a sprawling five-storey building to rubbles within a few moments.

Similarly, Nigeria’s growing LPG industry and by extension, national security, is in serious jeopardy of suffering a deadly ‘strike’ that may leave it in a state of ‘coma’, if and only if, the intensive clampdown by government agencies on LPG retailers continues unabated.

It’s been confirmed beyond all reasonable doubt that the retail segment of the LPG industry employs hundreds of thousands of Nigerians (a figure between 250,000- 400,000).

The clampdown on these industrious Nigerians, many of whom are graduates of higher institutions and the breadwinners of their various families, will dump most of them in the very hostile and already saturated labor market.

At this juncture, there’s an urgent need to be very frank with ourselves without recourse to semantic gerrymandering.

I feel nothing but a fusion of deep pity, empathy and sincere appreciation for the great efforts of security agencies like the Army, DSS, Police and Civil Defense Corps, who have to contend on a daily basis with serious banditry and kidnapping, against very violent criminal gangs.

A SARS Operative deployed to one of the major flashpoints in the northern part of the country confided in me that the situation there was outrageous and bloody. He said the various deadly gangs confronting them were made up of young audacious hoodlums who are always equipped with sophisticated assault rifles and other firearms.

We will be deceiving ourselves on an elaborate scale if we believe that a sizeable percentage of those who are unceremoniously sent packing from the LPG Retail Industry will not readily embrace the most lucrative criminal career in Nigeria today- kidnapping for ransom, which can make someone an instant millionaire(albeit illegal) overnight.

My tender heart goes out to the already overwhelmed security operatives who will undoubtedly have their workload increased and the hapless civilians whose lives will be in greater danger with the entry of hundreds or thousands of frustrated young men and women into the booming criminal occupations of banditry and kidnapping.

At this critical point, every effort must be made by the government to reduce, and not to increase, the total number of unemployed and idle Nigerians.

Effective regulation of the retail segment of the industry can be done to correct the few lapses that can threaten the safety on Nigerians. LPG retailers in unsafe locations can be mandated to relocate to safe locations, those with old and expired cylinders can be encouraged to procure new ones through government assisted credit schemes, while provision of safety devices/equipment and training of LPG retailers can be monitored efficiently by the Fire Service, DPR and SON.

It’s very apparent (even to baby that just stepped out of her mother’s womb) that Nigeria’s annual LPG consumption which is on course to hit the one million metric ton mark in 2020, from a dismal 50,000MT in 2007, will be dealt a retrogressive blow if the ‘rope’ being tightened on the neck of LPG retailers, is not slackened or removed completely. The reason is not far-fetched: LPG retailers are reputed to be responsible for the deep penetration of LPG into all the hinterlands in Nigeria, where LPG Skid Plants and Standard Plants have no presence.

In densely populated cities like Lagos, Kano, Port-Harcourt and Onitsha, LPG retailers have brought the product very close to the people. Public enlightenment and secondary LPG services such as valve replacement, cylinder and LPG cooker repairs and maintenance, which have immensely boosted the confidence of Nigerians in the safe use of LPG, are being carried out by LPG retailers.

These efforts have translated into the ever increasing adoption of LPG and burgeoning consumption of the product across the country.

Very ugly problems like deforestation and air pollution from dirty alternative fuels like kerosene, firewood, charcoal etc., which are being castrated, will bounce back ferociously when the population of LPG retailers is drastically reduced.

Time and space constraints will hardly permit the mention of societal tragedies like suicide, depression, mental disorders and hard drug ingestion, which are the natural corollaries that accompany the loss of people’s means of livelihood.