Soaring Gas Cylinder Costs Force Households Back to Firewood, Undermining Clean Cooking Goals

The Managing Director of Eterna Plc, Mr. Olumide Adeosun, has issued a sharp warning that Nigeria’s aspiration for clean cooking may be derailed due to the prohibitive cost of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinders for consumers. This high barrier to entry, he stated, is actively pushing low-income households back to cooking with environmentally harmful firewood and charcoal.

Speaking at the recently concluded Annual Energy Conference of the Association of Energy Correspondents of Nigeria (NAEC) in Lagos, Adeosun noted that despite Nigeria being a gas-rich nation, LPG consumption has not met projections and has, in fact, declined in recent years.

“The problem is not because we’re not producing enough. It’s because we’re not getting gas down the last mile where it needs to be used,” Adeosun explained. “People need bottles to cook. You cannot cook off a plant or a skid. You cook off a 3kg or 12.5kg cylinder, and we need to figure out a finance pathway for end-users to be able to afford the bottles.”

He stressed that until the industry and government “crack” the challenge of financing last-mile access, especially for the initial cylinder purchase, the clean cooking target will remain out of reach. This situation is compelling women in rural areas to continue their dependence on traditional biomass fuels like firewood, which poses significant health and environmental risks, including indoor air pollution and deforestation.

To reverse this trend, the Eterna CEO called for a multi-pronged intervention. He urged the government to directly support gas adoption by supplying starter kits, including cylinders and stoves, to low-income households. Furthermore, he proposed policies that would mandate the inclusion of gas reticulation infrastructure in all new and existing residential estates, arguing this would create a more structured and sustainable demand for both LPG and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) for domestic use.