Several residents of some states in the South-West zone of the country are lamenting the astronomical increase in the price of cooking gas, saying it is severely affecting them.
The residents told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in separate
interviews that unless government intervened urgently, the
situation may force them to discard using gas to cook.
They said they may have no other choice than a return to using charcoal, firewood and sawdust, among other archaic means of cooking.
NAN reports that 12.5 kilogramme (kg) of gas now sells for between N10,000 and N10,625 as against the N8,700 it was being sold before in some parts of the zone.
A 6 kg equivalent goes for between N4,800 and N5,100 instead of N4,176.
The residents, who expressed shock with the cooking gas situation, said that they never prepared for such an astronomical increase.
They lamented that this has come particularly with the increase in the price of petrol, with its attendant negative effects.
The residents appealed to government to, as a matter of urgency, step up measures to address the situation in order to reduce the sufferings of Nigerians.
A housewife, Mrs Eunice Alabi, a resident of Ayegun-Fasade in Egbeda Local Government Area (LGA) of Oyo State, said the situation is not economically wise for her.
“A low income-earner like me cannot afford to buy a kilogramme of cooking gas at a cost of N850. That is the situation we are in now,” she said.
Alabi said she had already returned to the use of a sawdust stove at little or no cost to her, aside getting sawdust from a nearby sawmill.
Mr Michael Tubosun, a commercial motorcycle operator at Iwo-Road in Ibadan North-East LGA, contended that using gas to cook now had become the exclusive right of the rich.
He said he had bought a charcoal pot for his wife to cook.
Also speaking with NAN, a roadside beans and yam vendor at Oluwo junction in Egbeda LGA, Mrs Jelilat Yusuf, said she had embraced the use of firewood for cooking.
“I thought I was becoming modern by using gas, but now I can not afford gas again,” she said.
According to Yusuf, firewood is cheaper and makes her to make more profit than using gas.
Although she expressed concern about the smoke from firewood, which, she said might not be good for her health, Yusuf however said she had no choice.
“Since gas has gone out of my reach, I have no choice.”
She implored government to intensify efforts toward bringing down the price of cooking gas and foodstuffs.
An environmentalist, Mr Bola Ogunrinde, however, said using the
alternatives to gas could be dangerous to health.
“Dioxin, one of the substances released when plastic is used and
inhaled, can instantly cause coughing, shortness of breath and
dizziness,” he stated.
A gas retailer, Mr Zacheaus Akinlabi, also said he had witnessed a marked reduction in the number of customers patronising him due to the sudden increase in gas price.
“Since the hike in price of gas, some of my customers have stopped
patronising me, while the few that come around only buy the few
kilogrames they can afford,” Akinlabi said.
A food vendor, Mrs Funmi Durodola, said that she had shifted from
using gas to charcoal.
Although Durodola said that a bag of charcoal had also increased from N3,500 to between N4,700 and N5000, nevertheless she said it was still more economical than gas.
Mrs Tolu Adejo, a mother of three, said: “When gas was between N700 and N750 per kg, my husband usually refilled for us, while we support our cooking with firewood, especially when we wanted to cook beans.
“To make matters worse, kerosene is also beyond our reach and so we now use firewood, alongside plastic and nylon to do our cooking, because we just have to survive,” Adejo said.
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