A staggering 70 percent increase in cooking gas prices has left many Nigerians struggling, with households now turning back to firewood and charcoal for cooking.
Once considered a cleaner and more efficient alternative, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) has seen its refill price for a 12.5kg cylinder soar to N15,552.56 in August 2024, up from N9,194.41 in the same period of 2023, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
This surge has caused widespread discontent, forcing many to adopt less sustainable cooking methods.
For Lagos-based web developer, Abiodun Adeleke, the price jump feels like a gut punch.
Venting his frustration on X (formerly Twitter), he wrote, “12.5kg cooking gas is now N19,000. Just months ago, it was N9,000. That’s a 100 percent hike in less than a year. How are people surviving this economy?”
It’s not just households that are affected—small businesses, particularly caterers and food vendors who rely on gas for their operations, are facing harsh realities.
Mary Olabuson, a caterer in Ibeju-Lekki, shared her frustration after being forced to walk away from a cooking job due to rising expenses.
“I had a client call me for a job, but after calculating the cost, gas alone took up a huge chunk of the budget. In the end, I had to turn down the offer because the client couldn’t afford my revised rate,” Olabuson said.
Mohammed Ahmed, a street food vendor selling fried yam, has had to make difficult adjustments to stay afloat.