Bauchi residents opt for firewood, charcoal as cooking gas price hits N1000 per kg

The hike in the prices of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, also known as cooking gas, has pushed many households in Bauchi State to use alternative cooking materials.

A check by the Newspot showed that charcoal and firewood are now returning to urban areas.

Residents blamed the Federal Government for the high cost of cooking gas, which they said is out of the reach of the common man.

Rauf Oyewole, a resident in Gwallameji, said,”The earlier the government addresses the price of cooking gas, the better for our environment. The impact will be grievous to both animals and human beings.

“Later on, the same government will have to take foreign loans to fight the effects of climate change.

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“This practice is worsening desertification in semi-arid areas like Bauchi State. Most of the residents who are low-income earners are already resulting in the felling of trees. ”

Another resident, Olaide Saheed, described the hike in the cost of cooking gas as alarming.

“I’m not the only one affected but all the people around me. It’s a serious and pathetic situation for the common man.

“I mean, this is something we were buying N800 and at a point in time, it went down to N780 and now it’s N1,000.

“Honestly speaking, I have decided to buy a charcoal cooking pot to start using charcoal for all the cooking in my house.

“We are abandoning cooking gas for now until the price goes down again. Thank God I have an electric cooker at home too, anytime there is a power supply, we’ll make use of that,” he said.

Also, Maria Daniel, a student at the Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa University (ATBU) lamented that she had abandoned cooking gas.

“I’m just a student, how much is my pocket money? I will be buying gas at 1,000 per kg. I think the government needs to do something as life is unbearable for students here,” she said.

Newspot also observed that some gas depots in the Bauchi metropolis have shut down operations as a result of the hike in the price of LPG.

A manager of one of the depots who refused to disclose his identity told our reporter that the high exchange rate of the dollar is responsible for the hike.

According to him, patronage for the commodity has reduced drastically as residents have found other alternatives.

“LPG is imported, and since the exchange rate of the dollar has gone higher, it will affect the price and it is what we buy that we sell too,’’ he said.