Crisis Underway in Cooking Gas Market as NNPC’s Intervention Fails

The intervention of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to avert the crisis looming in the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) market, better known as cooking gas market, has failed following the refusal of the key stakeholders to sign the communiqué reached at a recent reconciliatory meeting, THISDAY has learnt.

THISDAY gathered that the reconciliatory meeting was held on May 9, 2017 at the office of the Managing Director of the Nigerian Products Marketing Company (NPMC), a subsidiary of the NNPC, located at the corporation’s Towers in Abuja.

A source privy to the meeting told THISDAY at the weekend that the meeting, which was presided over by the NPMC’s Executive Director in charge of Commercial, Sir. Billy Okoye, was attended by officials of the marketers of cooking gas, under the aegis of the Nigerian As- sociation of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers (NALPGAM) and the Nigeria Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association (NLPGA).

NALPGAM had asked a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos for an injunction restraining the individuals parading themselves as the executive and council members of the NLPGA from doing so, pending the determination of the substantive suit.

In the suit Number FHC/L/ CS/180/A, NALPGAM is also seeking an order by the court setting aside all the purported amendment so carried out on the Article of Association of NLPGA, pending the hearing of the suit.

THISDAY, however, gathered that at the reconciliatory meeting convened by the NNPC, both associations expressed their willingness to resolve their differences to ensure the growth of LPG market, which is still at an infant stage.

The meeting, the source told THISDAY, noted the issue of NLPGA’s amendment of its 2015 constitution without following due process and also the suit instituted by NALPGAM to challenge the validity of the amendment of the constitution and also seeking a return to the pre-2015 constitution to govern NLPGA elections scheduled this month.

“At the end of the five-hour deliberations, it was resolved that NALPGAM shall withdraw the court case and formally recognise the current President of NLPGA. It was also agreed that the NLPGA’s 2015 constitution that was amended and filed at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) shall be withdrawn and the pre-2015 constitution shall be filed to replace it. The stakeholders also agreed that the next elections planned for this month by NLPGA shall be governed by the pre-2015 constitution of NLPGA,” the source explained.