As the nation prepares for its 2023 general elections, many Nigerian households and businesses are finding it difficult to keep up with the hike in the price of commodities, one of which is cooking gas.
According to the latest data by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), refilling a 5kg cylinder of liquefied petroleum gas (Cooking Gas) stood at N3800.47 last month.
A development that translates to an 83.67 percent increase from an average retail price of N2069.21 in April 2021, on a year-on-year basis.
Speaking with BusinessDay, Adam, a barber who recently ventured into the gas retail business, lamented that if he had known, he wouldn’t have started the journey.
“The experience is nothing to write home about,” he said. “I can’t even get the quantity I used to from my supplier anymore. This inflation is killing us.”
He also groans that customers are not turning up as they used to, “even when they do, they don’t buy as expected.”
Meanwhile, Elizabeth Olabanji, an undergraduate student of the University of Benin (UNIBEN), who is currently at home on the back of the ASUU strike, said over time her household had to cut down the gas purchases.
“Cost of living and my household income has not improved but the price of commodities are,” she said. “We’ve had to cut down the KG we get to meet up with other needs.”
On the other hand, Olaoluwa Adeleye, a journalist and content creator with Adaba FM, said he was bewildered by the coping mechanism he experienced some retailers and consumers in Akure adopting to cushion the effect of this rise.
“The last time I went to get my cylinder filled, I saw the fuel station attendant also selling charcoal,” he stated, adding that “many Akure residents now get charcoal to compensate for the shortfall in gas purchased.”
Adeleye further reiterate that his coping mechanism for the issue is to use the electric cooker.
“I wake up at midnight to cook for the day sometimes because power is also not stable,” he bewailed.
However, according to state profile analysis, the highest average price for refilling a 5kg cylinder of cooking gas was recorded in Gombe with N4337.50, followed by Bayelsa with N4250.00 and Adamawa with N4220.00.
Yobe, Sokoto, and Zamfara, on the other hand, recorded the lowest average price with N2931.83, N3000.00, and N3250.00 respectively.
In addition, prices analysed by zones show that the average retail price for refilling a 5kg cylinder of cooking gas was highest in the South-East with N4041.39 followed by the South-South with N3896.59 and North-Central with N3835.83, while the North-west recorded the lowest average retail price of N3572.83.
SOURCE: businessday.ng