Metro
Price of Cooking Gas Soars as Supply Drops
The drop in the supply of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, popularly known as cooking gas, to Lagos has led to an increase in the retail price of the commodity, raising fears of an imminent scarcity in the state and many parts of the country.
The Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers said last Wednesday that terminal owners had increased the price of 20 metric tonnes of the LPG by 33 per cent to N4.2m within five days.
NALPGAM said efforts to extract the cause of the sudden price increase from the terminal operators had not been successful.
The Nigeria LNG Limited, which is based in Port Harcourt, uses a vessel to deliver the LPG to Lagos at least twice in a month and buyers take the commodity to different parts of the country through trucks.
The company only delivers volumes to government-owned Northern Oil Jetty terminal and Navgas terminal, a private facility.
Our correspondent gathered that over 34 off-takers involved in the distribution of the NLNG’s volumes across the country received supply from the terminals.
But investigations revealed that the vessel only delivered the LPG volumes to Lagos once in October and no supply had been received this month as of the time of filing this report.
The Liquefied Petroleum Gas Retailers branch of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers said on Sunday that the reduction in supply had led to about 90 per cent increment in gas price within a space of one week.
“It is likely that this ugly situation will continue if there is no urgent intervention, especially as Christmas and New Year approach. Just a week ago, in Lagos and some neighbouring states, 12.5kg LPG was sold between N2,600 and N3,000 at retail outlets. It is now sold between N4,000 and N4,500 owing to the sudden hike in the price by tank farm operators,” the LPGAR said in a statement.
Last week, the NLNG, in a letter seen by our correspondent, explained to off-takers recent delays and disruptions to the Lagos delivery schedule.
It said deliveries to Lagos had progressed uninterrupted until August when the LPG vessel, ‘Navigator Capricorn’, loaded a cargo in Bonny and then experienced a suspected piracy attack en route to deliver the cargo to Lagos.
The spokesperson for the NLNG, Sophia Horsfall, in an emailed response to questions, told our correspondent on Friday that the company delivered 12,000MT to the Navgas terminal in Apapa, Lagos on October 15, 2019.
“Before then, we delivered a total of 32,050MT (three cargoes) in the month of September to Lagos. Our next delivery for about the 10th of November will be to NOJ terminal in Lagos. We typically deliver at least two cargoes of the LPG each month to Lagos via NOJ and Navgas terminals,” she said.
The LPGAR called on the Federal Government and other stakeholders to urgently intervene in order to restore sanity.
“The situation is already forcing many users to abandon their cylinders and opt for other sources of cooking energy such as firewood and saw dusk irrespective of the attendant health risks and resultant environmental degradation that results from those alternative energy sources,” it added.
The Punch
As this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) begins on Friday, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has vowed to arrest parents found near any Computer-Based Test (CBT) centre during the 2024 UTME exercise.
The directive was issued at the final briefing of the CBT centre owners, which was held virtually on Wednesday, 17th April, 2024.
The spokesman for JAMB, Fabian Benjamin, said this directive became necessary following the intrusive disposition of some parents during the Board’s previous exercises.
Benjamin, who quoted JAMB Registrar Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, said any parent, who disobeys the order would not only be arrested but his ward would also be disqualified from sitting for the examination.
Oloyede explained that this measure became necessary as it has been discovered over time that many of these intruding parents are facilitators of examination infractions while others have, by their actions, disrupted the Board’s examinations in the past.
He added that some miscreants also disguise as parents to infiltrate the centres to perpetrate all forms of infractions.
“The Board’s helmsman noted that going by the extant national policy on education, a candidate for the examination must have attained the age of 17 years.
“Therefore, it is evident that these parents had not allowed their wards to pass through the classes as defined in the document, hence the desperation to follow their wards to the examination venue with the aim of compromising examination officials.
“At any rate, it is clear to any discerning observer that these parents deserve to be sanctioned as they had obviously ‘smuggled’ underage children into the ranks of those scheduled to sit the examination,” the Board note through a statement.
Furthermore, the Registrar said all arrangements have been concluded for the conduct of the 2024 UTME, which will be held in over 700 CBT centres across the nation.
He disclosed that the Board expects a seamless exercise but it has nevertheless made adequate provision to tackle any technical glitch that might occur in the course of the examination.
He, however, warned that if a session experienced any technical challenge, candidates in subsequent sessions would be allowed to sit their examination as scheduled while the candidates in the challenged session would be rescheduled for the last session for the day or the following day or even further depending on the centre schedules.
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Instagram celebrity, Pascal Okechukwu aka Cubana Chief Priest, on Wednesday, pleaded not guilty for alleged Naira abuse.
He pleaded not guilty to the three-count charge filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The socialite was arraigned at the Federal High Court, Lagos before Justice Kehinde Ogundare on Wednesday.
The anti-graft commission filed a three-count charge against Cubana Chief Priest accused of abusing the naira at a social event, an act said to be contrary to the provisions of the Central Bank Act of 2007.
After pleading not guilty, the court granted him bail in the sum of N10million with two responsible sureties in like sum, who must be gainfully employed with the federal or state government and not less than grade level 16.
The sureties, the court emphasized, should have landed property and the document must be verified by the court.
Cubana Chief Priest is also to submit his travel passport to the custody of the court.
The bail conditions must be perfected within seven days but in the meantime he was released to his lawyer who must give an undertaken to produce him later. Failure to do so, he will be remanded in correctional facility.
The charge filed on April 4 by EFFC’s prosecutor Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN) alongside seven other lawyers representing the chairman of the Commission, are as follows:
Count 1: “That you, Okechukwu Pascal on 13th February, 2024, at Eko Hotel, within the jurisdiction of the court, while dancing during a social event, tampered with funds in the denomination of N500 (Five Hundred Naira) issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria by spraying same for two hours, and you thereby committed an offence, contrary to and punishable under Section 21(1) of the Central Bank Act 2007”.
Count 2: “That you Okechukwu Pascal sometime in 2020, in Lagos during a social event, tampered with funds in the denomination of N500 (Five Hundred Naira) issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria by spraying same for two hours, and you thereby committed an offence, contrary to and punishable under Section 21(1) of the Central Bank Act 2007”.
Count 3: “That you Okechukwu Pascal sometime in January 2024, in Lagos during a social event, tampered with funds in the denomination of N500 (Five Hundred Naira) issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria by spraying same and you thereby committed an offence, contrary to and punishable under Section 21(1) of the Central Bank Act 2007”.
Meanwhile, the defendant also informed the court of his pending application to challenge the jurisdiction of the court to hear the charge.
Justice Ogundare has adjourned till May 2nd to hear the application
This is coming days after the EFCC arraigned controversial cross-dresser Idris Okuneye better known as Bobrisky on similar charges for which he was sentenced to a six-month jail term.
