BY CHARLES EBI

Residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), have decried the continuous increase in the price of Household Kerosene.

With the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) fully halting the production and importation of Household Kerosene (HHK) mostly consumed by the country’s poor, the price of the product has skyrocketed by 146  per cent in the last one year.

The price of household Kerosene, also known as cooking kerosene skyrocketed by over100 per cent in one year.

Aljazirah Nigeria analysis of the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) between November, 2021 to December, 2022, showed that where it is available, the price of a litre of kerosene has increased from N437  to N1200./litre in the corresponding period last year.

The report indicated that average retail price per litre  was 4 per cent higher on a month-on-month basis in November 2022 compared to N1,041 recorded in October.

Nigeria, like most parts of the world has been dealing with soaring energy prices, including diesel, jet-A1 fuel, gas, among others, except petrol which is still tightly regulated in the country.

The development has now impacted most of the highly vulnerable homes in the country, especially those in rural communities, who depend on kerosene as a major source of fuel for cooking.

In the last couple of years, the NNPCL has completely stopped the importation of kerosene and has not able to produce any drop within the country since all its refineries are currently non-functional.

On state profile analysis, the highest average price per litre in November 2022 was recorded in Akwa Ibom with N1,417 followed by Cross River with N1,367, and Abuja with N1,307.

On the other hand, the lowest price was recorded in Borno with N876 followed by Rivers with N910 and Nasarawa with N913.

In addition, analysis by zone showed that the South-East recorded the highest average retail price per litre, with N1,209, followed by the South-West with N1,163, while the North-East recorded the lowest with N959.

While the average retail price per gallon paid by consumers in November 2022 was N3,594, showing an increase of 2 per cent from N3,517 in October 2022.

On a year-on-year basis, it increased by 133 per cent from N1,544 in November 2021.

On state profile analyses, Kwara recorded the highest average retail price per gallon with N4,506 followed by Enugu with N4,302, and Abia with N4,238.

The residents, who spoke to Aljazirah Nigeria in Abuja expressed their views on how the increase is affecting them. The residents said they had to switch to alternative energy sources for cooking.

The recent data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), had shown that the average price per litre of kerosene increased by 146.04 per cent in one year from N467.97 recorded in December 2021 to N1,104.61 in December 2022.

While on a month-on-month basis, the price increased by 1.94 per cent from N1,083.57 recorded in November 2022 to N1,104.61 in December 2022.

Similarly, the average retail price of a gallon of kerosene increased on a year-on-year basis by 137.15 per cent from N1,582.73 recorded in December 2021 to N3,753 in December 2022.

On a month-on-month basis, it rose by 4.42 per cent from N3,594 in November 2022 to N3,753 in December 2022.

Mrs Agatha Kalu, a public servant and mother of three, said the incessant increase in kerosene had made her switch to cooking gas as her cooking source.

“I was using kerosene before but I will advise people to forget kerosene for now, because I have compared the price of kerosene and cooking gas, and gas is cheaper to use.

“Kerosene is N1,100 per litre, while one kg of gas is N950. I use one litre of kerosene just to boil water for bathing which lasts for two days but I use 1kg of gas to boil water and cook for three days.

“Yes, gas is expensive but it is still cheaper for me to use compared to kerosene as I have explained.”

Kalu said that the health risks of using kerosene were more compared to gas because of the smoke kerosene emits, adding that it also made her pots black, leaving her with more work to do.

Mrs Esther John, a hairdresser and mother of one, said she switched to cooking gas because she could no longer cope with the increasing price of kerosene.

“I have stopped using kerosene for over six months. I had to close my eye and buy a 12.5kg gas cylinder. I usually buy N5,500 and it serves me for not less than a month plus if I use it every day.

“My sister still uses kerosene and if she buys two litres it serves her for three days maximum depending on what she cooks. So gas is still cheaper.”

John said many people were still scared to use gas because of the danger of explosion, adding that many people could also not afford to buy a gas cylinder.

“You can buy a second-hand kerosene stove for N1,000 to N2,000, but a 12.5 kg gas cylinder is almost N20,000, even a 5kg cylinder is about N12,000.

“It is difficult for them to gather up that money to go and buy a gas cylinder but at the end of the day it is still cheaper compared with kerosene because cooking with gas also saves more time,” she said.

Mrs Jumoke Balogun, a trader, said she had to buy a charcoal stove because she could not keep up with the increasing price of kerosene.

“I used to use a kerosene stove to fry groundnuts, but because of the price I bought a charcoal stove as an alternative to kerosene and it is cheaper.

“You can get charcoal for as low as N200 and it serves me longer than if I buy a litre of kerosene at N1,100,” she said.

Mrs Helen Adejoh, a businesswoman, said she had also switched to charcoal as an alternative to kerosene, however, she said that charcoal had some disadvantages.

“I use charcoal when I am cooking for a large number of people but one disadvantage is the challenge of lighting it during the rainy season.

“It also brings out fumes slightly and over time it accumulates everywhere, especially if the charcoal you are using is not properly burnt.

” To make it easier, you have to use charcoal made from softwood because it lights faster but burns out faster as well. So to balance it, you can mix the charcoal obtained from hard and softwood.”

“Another challenge of cooking with charcoal is that you must exhaust all you are cooking before you quench the fire. There is no on-and-off switch like the kerosene stove,” she said.

Mrs Chioma Nwachukwu, a public servant, said though she still had her kerosene stove, she used more gas to cook because it was cheaper and a neater and healthy source of cooking.

“I prefer gas because it is cheaper and cleaner to use despite the risk of explosion, the cooking time is faster and it is neater than cooking with kerosene.

“When you use kerosene you keep washing your pots because the smoke stains them. I only use it once in a while, It is just a standby in case my gas finishes when I am cooking.

“Government should see how they can bring down the price of kerosene because it is what is easily accessible to the masses, therefore, they should make it available and affordable,” she said.