FG targets 5m households as grassroots LPG rollout expands to Akwa Ibom
By Firdaus Jibril
The Federal Government has expanded its National Grassroots Liquefied Petroleum Gas Penetration Programme (NGLPP) to Akwa Ibom State, with 27,000 households targeted for LPG access as part of a nationwide plan to convert five million households to cleaner cooking energy by 2030.
The Akwa Ibom rollout, launched in Uyo on Thursday under the Decade of Gas Initiative, is the second state-level activation of the programme after Bayelsa, where the Federal Government began its state-by-state rollout last month.
Unlike a one-off cylinder distribution exercise, the latest phase introduces a Depot-Hub-Node cylinder exchange model, designed to keep beneficiaries supplied with LPG after the initial distribution.
Under the model, refill points are expected to be located within one to two kilometres of participating communities, reducing the distance households have to travel to refill their cylinders.
Beneficiaries in Akwa Ibom will also receive up to six free LPG refills within one year, while a digital monitoring platform will track cylinders, refills and household adoption. The system is intended to improve accountability and ensure that the intervention translates into sustained LPG use rather than simply distributing cylinders that later become idle.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, said the programme would eventually cover the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, with a target of converting about one million households annually and five million households by 2030.
The programme is also aligned with the Federal Government’s broader ambition to increase domestic LPG consumption to five million metric tonnes annually by 2030, according to the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
Representing the NMDPRA Chief Executive, the agency’s Executive Director, Hydrocarbon Processing Plants, Installations and Transportation Infrastructure, Francis Alabo Ogaree, said the cylinder recirculation system, refill support and barcode-enabled monitoring were important to the sustainability of the programme.
The initiative also has a women-focused economic empowerment component. At the Akwa Ibom launch, the Federal Government announced that 3,000 women would receive N100,000 each, amounting to N300 million, to support businesses, agriculture and household income.
The Akwa Ibom State Governor, Umo Eno, said the programme could provide wider economic opportunities beyond household cooking, particularly through investment in the state’s gas value chain.
He identified opportunities in LPG bottling plants, cylinder manufacturing and maintenance, gas storage, transportation and logistics, gas processing, clean-cooking solutions and gas-based manufacturing.
The Federal Government’s grassroots LPG programme is therefore moving from a simple “give households cylinders” approach towards a broader distribution and consumption model that links cylinder access with nearby refill infrastructure, monitoring and continued supply.
The Decade of Gas Initiative said the state-by-state rollout would continue following the Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom activations, as the Federal Government works towards its 2030 clean-cooking target.
PHOTO CAPTION:
From Left: Minister of Youth Development Representative- Mrs. Leah Tolulope Akinfiresoye, the Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Hon. Ekperikpe Ekpo, the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Pastor Umo Eno, Dr. (Mrs) Ekaette Unoma Godswill Akpabio; Deputy Governor, Senator Dr. Akon Eyakenyi; Lady Helen Eno Obareki Coordinator, Office of the First Lady of Akwa Ibom State and Co-ordinating Director of the Decade of Gas Initiative, Mr. Ed Ubong as the Federal Government through the Decade of Gas Initiative flags off the Grassroots LPG Programme (NGLPP) in Akwa Ibom State.