The National Bureau of Statistics has said that Taraba, Lagos, and Benue have the highest cooking gas prices for liquefied petroleum gas, LPG, in Nigeria.
This comes as the average price of five kilograms of LPG on a year-on-year basis increased by 44.62 per cent to N7,000 in December 2024, up from N4,962.87 in December 2023.
In a state-by-state analysis, cooking gas in Taraba recorded the highest average price for refilling a 5kg cylinder at N8,074.41, followed by Lagos at N7,910.71 and Benue at N7,900.
In contrast, NBS data showed that Delta recorded the lowest price at N6,455, followed by Ondo and Zamfara at N6,683.33 and N6,778.57, respectively.
On the average price of 12.5kg cooking gas, NBS stated: “In a state profile analysis, Taraba recorded the highest average retail price for refilling a 12.5kg cylinder of liquefied petroleum gas (cooking gas) at N20,290.75, followed by Yobe at N19,000.00 and Rivers at N18,710.94. Conversely, the lowest average price was recorded in Kebbi at N15,733.33, followed by Nasarawa and Kwara at N15,875.00 and N16,109.38, respectively. Analysis by zone showed that the North-East recorded the highest average retail price for refilling a 12.5kg cylinder of liquefied petroleum gas (cooking gas) at N18,173.90, followed by the South-West at N17,544.26, while the North-Central recorded the lowest price at N16,482.47.”
This indicates that the prices of cooking gas, a major energy source in Nigeria, failed to cool off in 2024.
Aside from cooking gas, other sources of energy such as electricity and fuel also recorded varying degrees of hikes in 2024.
Consequently, Nigeria’s inflation stood at 34.80 per cent in December 2024, according to NBS. This data reflects Nigeria’s rising cost of living in the months despite efforts by the Central Bank of Nigeria and fiscal agencies to tackle inflation.