Nigerians have urged the federal government to intensify measures to address the rising cost of cooking gas and food items in the country which have almost doubled in the last six months as they approached the Christmas and New Year festivities period.
Investigation shows that one kilogram of the LPG product which sold for between N300 and N350 now goes for N600 in some areas in Lagos, while prices of staple foods like garri, beans and rice is almost beyond the reach of the majority of Nigerians.
During a visit to Heyden Gas station in Iyana ipaja area of Lagos, one of the staff attributed the increase to the reintroduction of the additional value added tax on the product and the high foreign exchange.
According to him, the high exchange rate affected every facet of the economy as the country relied on importation of both physical goods and services including raw materials for the nation’s industries.
According to him, the effect trickles down and affects almost every product in the market.
A banker who resides in Abesan Estate in Ipaja area of Lagos, Olorunfemi Akanbi, said the situation had become so intense that an average family of five now required double of the amount of money it used to take to feed in a month, yet his salary has remained the same since 2019.
“If we insist on consuming the same quantity and quality of food we might end up starving for some days because the amount of money that we used to buy a lot of food items cannot get us the same items at the same cost now.
Also, a businessman, Jade Akanni, expressed worry over the daily increase in prices of food items and cooking gas.
