Nasarawa residents lament hike in cooking gas, sachet water prices

Residents of Nasarawa State are expressing worry over the rise in the prices of Liquefied Petroleum Gas as well as sachet water in the state.

Mr Danjuma Ibrahim, who spoke to Aso Chronicle, Monday in Lafia, explained that the increase in the prices of the commodities has made life difficult for him and his family.

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Dr Steven Abel and Mr Musa Jibrin, also residents of the, who spoke on the untold hardship occasioned by the current scarcity of cooking gas, told our correspondent that as of Tuesday, they went around the state but couldn’t get the commodities, including at A A Rano filling station and SkyWave.

Another resident, Dahiru Isah, in the Akwanga Local Government Area of the state, who is a sachet water vendor, said he was unable to buy the commodity for three days now owing to the hike in price.

“We used to buy a bag of sachet water at N80 from the various factories in our community, but they now sell at N200 per bag and it has not been easy for us. I want to use this medium to call on the state government to come to our aid,” he said.

Yusuf Sabo, a resident of Lafia and father of 15, stated that the situation was worrisome as he could no longer buy sachet water for his family members and that they have resorted to drinking water from the well.

Reacting to the development, the state chairman of the Association of Table Water Producers of Nigeria, Mr Alfred Alogala, blamed the increase in the price of sachet water on the high cost of production materials.

He said: “The price of almost everything has gone up and it is quite alarming and worrisome. We have started selling a bag of sachet water at N200 as against N100 because almost everything we use for production has become very expensive. 

“If the prices of things reduce in the market, we will also reduce the price of sachet water.

“The sachet water polythene bag that we bought at N700 per kilogramme before the beginning of the year is now sold at N1,600. 

The people should exercise patience as it is not our wish to make them go through any form of stress or hardship. We have no choice but to increase the price to remain in the business,” he stated.

Some people who expressed worry over the hike in the price of cooking gas in the state noted that if nothing is done urgently to tackle the situation, they would have no choice but revert to firewood and charcoal.

Kayode James, a resident of Tudun Abu area of, Lafia LGA told our correspondent that the hike has made life difficult for himself and his family.

When our correspondent visited Ankani Gas Station in Lafia, it was discovered that one kilogramme of cooking gas is sold at N650 against N380 in January.

The Managing Director of Ankani Gas Station, Abass Enokela, said he did not know why the price of cooking gas increased.

“What is happening now is very shocking to us. We have never seen this kind of increase in the price of cooking gas since this business was birthed some years ago.

“The increase is also affecting our business as a lot of customers now resort to using firewood and charcoal for cooking,” he said.