Prices of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, (LPG), otherwise known as cooking gas, across Nigeria continued on the upward trend despite a significant increase in the local production of the product.
Many Nigerians have said they would resort to firewood and charcoal if prices of cooking gas continue to soar. According to some who spoke to newsmen in separate interviews, said that they could no longer cope with the increase in the prices of cooking gas and called on the federal government to address the current hike in the price of cooking gas to ease the people’s suffering.
Checks in some gas plants in many States showed that the price of cooking gas had increased by more than 50 percent.
For instance, a 12.5kg cylinder, which was sold for N6,800 in September, had increased to between N7,800 and N8,000, depending on locations. A 6kg cylinder which previously sold for N2,900, had gone up to N4,200 in less than a month.
A manager of one of the gas plants in Awka, in Anambra State, told newsmen that the hike was as a result of the current devaluation of the naira.
Some consumers blamed the government for its inability to control the price of cooking gas in the open market.
It is a similar situation in all the States in the South-East as well as across the country, as consumers groan over the rising cost of cooking gas.
Some gas dealers in the region blamed the development on the increase in the Value-Added Tax (VAT) to the petroleum products, high demand of gas and naira devaluation, while expressing their grievances, attributed the high increase in the prices of foodstuffs to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Others attributed the hike to the increase in transport fares and the inability of farmers to produce enough food for domestic consumption as a result of insecurity in the country.
Some of the major foodstuffs affected by the price hike include rice, beans, tomato, pepper, palm oil, onions, egg, plantain, garri, spaghetti, yam, soup sauces such as Egusi, Ogbono and cocoyam.
Even the prices of bread, table and sachet water, soft drinks and many other edibles have increased.
