Price, Health Issues Giving Cooking Gas Edge Over Kerosene
By UMORU ABDULKADIR
More Nigerian households may embrace cooking gas following its cost effective price and reduced health implications which give it edge over kerosene, another household cooking item.
Latest reports from the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on these two items show that gas is far cheaper and could last a household longer than kerosene which usage also come with health implications.
Since 2009, the price of Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK) popularly known as household kerosene has been on a progressive rise. Every efforts by successive government to ensure that the price is affordable has yielded no fruits but instead, worsening an already bad situation.
Several attempts by President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration yield no positive results as the price continue its upward movement. Though the official price per litre then was N42.00, it was sold between N197 and N225 per litre, varying from State.
On assumption of office, President Muhammadu Buhari also made efforts to ensure that kerosene was sold at the government fixed price, but again the kerosene dealers defied the president’s directive like they have done other administrations. Consequently, the current administration increased the price to N50.00 per litre, with yet no succour to the masses, who vastly use kerosene for households cooking.
Meanwhile, as the price of kerosene was increasing, the price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) was decreasing.
The average price for refilling a 5kg cylinder for Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) dropped by 6.23 per cent year-on-year and 1.21 per cent month-on-month to N1, 976.11 in September 2019 from N2, 000.34 in August 2019.
In the same vein, the average price for the refilling of a 12.5kg cylinder for Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) decreased by 2.34 per cent month-on-month and by 5.76 per cent year-on-year to N4, 124.20 in September 2019 from N4, 223.08 recorded in August 2019.
For the same period however, the price of kerosene increased averagely by 7.12 per cent by September 2019 ranging between N318.46 to N322.64 per litre. This contrast sharply with the declining price of LPG price.
Although the percentage of the usage of the two commodities cannot be certain in the country, pricing. however could be a deciding factor considering the current economic realities in the country. Kerosene seems to be dominant in the rural areas owing to the instability in power, which the resort to lantern as a means of light at nights. Cooking gas however is dominant in the urban cities not only because of price and reduced health implications, but also because of social status.
Analysis of the NBS report shows that despite the general fall in the average price for cooking gas nationally in September, there are variances in their prices as they differ considerably in different States of the country.
States with the highest average price for the refilling of a 5kg cylinder for Liquefied Petroleum Gas were Bauchi (N2, 481.88), Borno (N2, 382.29) and Adamawa (N2, 375.66).
Similarly, the States with the lowest average price for the refilling of a 5kg cylinder for Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas were Abuja (FCT), N1, 680.00, Ebonyi N1, 700.00) and Osun N1, 711.46.
While Akwa Ibom led States with the highest average price for the refilling of a 12.5kg cylinder for LPG with as high as N4 685.05, followed by Benue with N4, 600.00 and Cross River (N4, 565.32).
Kano, Oyo and Lagos topped States with the lowest average price for the refilling of a 12.5kg cylinder of Cooking Gas with N3, 600.00, Oyo N3, 661.54 and N3, 705.00 respectively within the period under consideration.
InsideBusiness findings in Ikeja, Ogba and Yaba areas of Lagos revealed that while the average price of 5kg refill was N1, 900.00, the average price of refilling 12.5kg cylinder was N3, 950.00 on the average.
Specifically, a 5kg cooking gas cylinder costs between N1, 850.00 and N2, 000.00 to be refilled at Ikeja depending on the district. A 12.5kg cylinder of LPG refill on its part, costs between N3, 800 and N4, 000 on the average within the State’s Capital.
Findings from Chidi Okafor, a cooking gas distributor at Ogba showed that the price was a little lower compared with what is obtainable at Ikeja. While it costs between N1, 650 and N1, 750 to refill a 5kg cylinder, the 12.5kg LPG cylinder goes for between N3, 750 to N3, 850.
Similarly, Dauda Ale who sells at Onike in the Yaba axis of Lagos said that a 5kg cooking gas cylinder was going for between N1,700 and N1,950, while 12.5kg cylinder goes for N3,900 and N4, 000.
For Kerosene. pricing across States in the country shows that Abia, Enugu, and Cross Rivers emerged as States with the highest average price per litre of Kerosene, N378.50, N372.73 and N372.50 in that order, while the States with lowest average price per litre of kerosene were, Abuja (N245.83), Nassarawa (N265.92) and Borno (N276.96) respectively.
The average price per gallon paid by consumers for National Household Kerosene increased by 0.56 percent month-on-month and by 8.01 percent year-on-year to N1, 217.28 in September 2019 from N1, 210.44 in August 2019.
States with the highest average price per gallon of kerosene were Gombe (N1, 441.67), Borno (N1, 400.00) and Adamawa (N1, 375.44), while States with the lowest average price per gallon of kerosene included Bayelsa (N1, 065.45), Delta (N1, 100.38) and Osun(N1, 103.53) respectively.
Apart from pricing, cooking gas lasts longer out of the two items and is likely to get more preference. For instance, a full 5kg of gas cylinder can last a consumer up to between 3- 4 weeks while a gallon of kerosene can only last for a week.
In addition, the use of cooking gas makes cooking faster and does not emit carbon monoxide which in itself is pollution to the environment unlike the Cooking stove that uses kerosene.
A little subsidy in the price of gas cylinders by the government will make more cylinders available to the vast majority of Nigerians since the use of gas is cheaper and more environment friendly than the kerosene stove.
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