By Dada Ahmed in Lokoja
As the price of kerosene continues to hit the roof in Lokoja, many house wives in the area and its environs have shun the use of kerosene for domestic cooking, in preference for gas and charcoal which have relative cheaper prices, The Reporters,an online publication reports.
A market survey conducted by the correspondent of the online platform in Lokoja on Sunday revealed that while a litre of kerosene goes as high as N250.000 or more in some kerosine outlets and may not last for one or two days, using gas or charcoal lasts for longer days.
Mrs Janet Alabi described the rising cost of kerosene as a blessing in disguise, especially for house wives who she noted, had been forced to seek alternative in gas or charcoal as well as fire wood to accomplish their cooking activities.
“With a 12kg of gas which goes for slightly above N3,000,I can use that for one month for domestic cooking which is not so if I am buying kerosene and yet as costlier price,”she said in an interview with our correspondent in Lokoja on Sunday.
A kerosine seller, who collaborated the position of Mrs Alabi but pleaded for anonymity,lamented that her sale had gone down drastically in recent time.
“We no longer experience high sales as before as buyers, particularly house wives, who used kerosene for domestic cooking have shifted their demand to gas and charcoal due to their relative affordable price.
“It is not our fault that the price of kerosene has gone up, we are only selling what we are buying from Abuja, Lagos and else where in the country.
“Apart from the challenges confronting us in buying the product, the cost of transporting it down to Lokoja is on the high side as well,” he told the online publication.
Contributing, an environment expert, Alhaji Mohammed Mustapha, said the high demand for charcoal meant that more trees would be cut down, thereby contributing to desert encroachment in the country, if not replaced by way planting another one.
He stressed the need for the state government to intensify its enlightenment programme, with a view to impressing on the people to plant trees where such natural resource is cut down.
“When a tree is cut down,it is expected that another one is planted to ensure that the place is not left fallow for the process of desert encroachment to take place,” the expert Advised.