Consumers Burn with Anger over High Cost of Kerosene, Charcoal, Gas

By Abubakar H. Muhammad/

Some residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja are lamenting over the increasing price of kerosene, charcoal, and Gas.

The residents interviewed by NAN on Tuesday in Abuja, said that the high cost of kerosene had made life more difficult for them and their families.

The resident said that although the price was always fluctuating, the recent increase has been unbearable.

They said that the product was now sold at N1,000 per liter from kerosene vendors as against N600 in recent weeks.

One of the vendors at UTC market, Musa Magaji, said that the increment has been a gradual process up to this period.

He said they used to sell kerosene at N300 per liter in the past and later it soared to N600 before the current price of N1,000.

Another kerosene vendor at a filling station in Gudu, Mustapha Salisu, who has been in the business for over seven years, now sells the product at N800 or N850 per liter.

He said that the unprecedented increase had forced many consumers to look for alternative.

Salisu noted that most of his customers are the local people in his community who use it for cooking, adding that the increase in the price from N850 has stop them from buying.

‘’I used to buy it in the filling station at N750 per liter and I will sell at N800 or N850 to my customers.

”Now that the price has increased to N1,000, I don’t think that I will continue the business because I know that my customers can’t afford it,’’ he said.

Mallam Umar Abubakar attributed the increase to the rise in the price of gas.

He said whenever there was increase in the price of gas, it automatically reflects on the price of kerosene because people usually turn to it.

“If the price of gas increases, there is usually an increase in kerosene too. Gas is now sold at N830, it skyrocketed from just N200 some months ago.

“But we are hopeful that it will decrease and that will eventually affect kerosene price too,’’ he said.

Some residents said they had stopped using kerosene following the increase and had resorted to other alternatives.

Some now use charcoal, others said they have turned to gas.

A banana and groundnut seller at Area 10, Madam Favor Peter, said that she couldn’t afford it at the current price and had turned to other alternatives.

She noted that she used to buy at a lesser price months ago.

“I used to cook with it sometimes, especially in rainy season, but when I bought a liter at N1,000 two weeks ago, I stopped buying it. It used to be around N600 or N650 two months ago.

“Even though the differences are not much, I am now using charcoal and gas to cook and even the charcoal price has increased. It’s now N3,500 per bag now,’ she said.

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