Some residents of Ado village and its environs in Nasarawa state have appealed to the federal government to find a lasting solution to the high cost of cooking gas and kerosene.
The residents, who made the appeal in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said they were unable to cope with the situation in addition to other financial responsibilities.
They urged the government to take drastic measures to crash the prices of the products in the interest of the masses.
Many households worried that the cost of the products had risen beyond their reach, urging urgent steps to make them affordable.
NAN recalled that marketers of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), otherwise called cooking gas had expressed concerns over the supply shortage and persistent increase in the price of cooking gas and cylinders in Nigeria.
The marketers had warned that the 12.5kg cylinder of cooking gas, which then sold at between N7,500 and N8,000 could rise to N10,000 by December if the government fails to address the crisis.
The marketer blamed the hike in the price of the product on the recently introduced import charges and Value Added Tax (VAT) by the Federal Government.
Mrs Janeth Raymond, a resident explained that the increase in prices of cooking energy had become additional challenge to her, coupled with the high prices of food stuff in the market.
“Honestly, I find it very difficult to cope with. Imagine the 12.5 kg of gas we were buying N5,000 before, is now being sold for N8, 000, and you cannot use it up to two months before it finishes, talk more of kerosene.
“Kerosene now is almost N400 per a litre and for you to use a litre of kerosene to cook in the house, you can only cook two meals and before you know it finishes and the N400 is gone, then you will be looking for another N400 to buy another one.
According to her, it has not been easy as she has undertaken some of such little responsibilities to assist her husband, whom she said has other major roles to play at home so as to make things easier for them.
Raymond, therefore, made an appeal to the Federal Government to try as much as it could to reduce the prices of both cooking gas and the kerosene, even as Nigerians were discouraged to use firewood for cooking.
“From the news I heard, I learnt the hike came as a result of the increase in the recently introduced import charges and Value Added Tax (VAT) by the Federal Government.
“Whatever the case may be, I am appealing to the government to consider that it is the poor masses that are mostly affected,” she said.
On her part, Mrs Gladys Bernard said the most painful thing to her was non-durability of cooking gas, a condition she was wondering if gas dealers were selling fake gas now a day.
According to Bernard, you will buy gas today and it cannot last any longer and the situation has aggravated the suffering of the
(NAN)
