A 12.5kg cooking gas refill now costs over 6x what it did in 2016

  • A 12.5kg refill is now over 6x costlier than in 2016.
  • The April 2026 price reached ₦22.4k, up from ₦3.7k in January 2016.
  • Prices stayed fairly stable until 2021, then surged sharply.
  • Fresh reports suggest gas prices kept rising after April 2026.

Cooking gas has become much more expensive for Nigerian households over the past decade.

In January 2016, the average retail price of a 12.5kg refill was ₦3,680. By April 2026, it had risen to ₦22,380, making it more than six times costlier. The 5kg refill also rose from ₦1,840 to ₦8,710 over the same period.

The pressure appears to have continued beyond the official April data. Recent reports put retail cooking gas at about ₦2,000 to ₦2,200 per kg in some locations by early June, while industry operators have linked the latest increases to supply constraints, higher depot costs, foreign exchange pressures, global energy prices, and rising logistics costs.

Source:

National Bureau of Statistics

Period:

Jan 2016-April 2026
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