By Dada Ahmed in Lokoja.
Prices of gas in Lokoja as at Oct.6,2023.
Buyers of domestic gas in Lokoja, Kogi state, north-central Nigeria, have again called on the federal government to arrest the abysmal fall of the naira to the dollar and other foreign currencies and its implication on the prices of goods and services in Nigeria.
Our correspondent reports that the call came as inflation, coupled with the high rate of naira exchange to the dollar and other foreign continued to register their negative impact on consumable and non-consumable items in Lokoja and other parts of the country.
The correspondent of the Reporters who went to one of the gas filling stations in Lokoja on Friday to buy gas reported that the station had stopped the sale of one kg of the product to customers, citing the high cost of gas.
Two kgs of gas, which is the least kg sold by the station in Lokoja has gone up from N1,200 to NN1,700.
The price of 12.5 kg of gas, bought at N8,750 about three months ago in the area has skyrocketed to N10,625 with the same development trending in other categories of measurement of the product for sale.
One of the gas buyers, who also turned at the gas station but asked for anonymity in an interview with the online media outfit, said he went home disappointed as he could not purchase 5kg of the product due to the hike in price.
“When I came to this gas filling station about two months ago to buy 5 kg of gas, it was sold at N3,000 but today when I returned to the same gas station to buy the same quantity of gas, I could not buy it because the price has risen to N4,250,” he lamented.
Some people using gas to cook for commercial purposes told our correspondent in various interviews in Lokoja that if the trend continued, coupled with the increasing rise in the prices of food items, they would have to abandon restaurants and pursue other business ventures to meet ends meet.
“As a restaurant operator, going to market to buy foodstuff to run your business, you are confronted with ever-increasing prices of virtually all food items you can think of.
“After struggling to buy the food items, transporting them to your residence becomes another herculean task as the increase in transport fare has gone beyond the roof.
“Now to buy gas to cook the food, you have to buy gas at high price again due to inflation all along in the struggle to break even, not to talk of making profit price,” Mr.John Ikechukwu, told our correspondent at the International market, Lokoja on Friday.
According to Google, the exchange rate for Naira in the parallel market for Thursday, October 05, 2023, as confirmed by Bureau de Change operators, is as follows:
ABUJA:
Date Currency Buying 05/10/2023US Dollar 990.00—1,000.00Euro1,030.00—1,040.00Pounds Sterling 1,250.00—1,260.
LAGOS:.
05/10/2023US Dollar 990.00—1,000.00Euro1,045.00—1,060.00Pounds Sterling 1,255.00—1,270.00.
Some other concerned Nigerians, who spoke with The Reporters at the old market, Lokoja called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to do the needful, urgently, to proffer lasting solutions to the current economic challenges confronting Nigeria.
