Effect of 'Change'? Households Embrace Local Coal Stoves as Cooking Gas Price Skyrockets (Photos)

 

Many households in Kano, previously using cooking gas, say they have now resorted to coal stoves due to the hike in the price of the commodity.

 

The prices of kerosene and cooking gas have jumped astronomically in recent times, resulting to many families falling back to cheaper alternatives, including firewood.

 

A civil servant, Malam Bello Abdullahi, who commented on the development, said in Kano on Wednesday that he had been using gas for more than two decades but had to stop because he could no longer afford the cost.

 

He said, “I can’t imagine buying a 12.5kg cylinder at the cost of N5,500 and who knows if it will halt at that price.”

 

 

Another user, Dattijo Alhaji, said that his family brought the idea of switching to coal stove because coal was affordable.

 

He said that as a pensioner, he needed to control his finances to survive the recession.

 

Similarly, Malama Bilkisu Usman, a house wife, also said that she advised her husband to purchase coal stove in order to have funds for other needs.

 

She said that she had been purchasing 5kg cylinder of gas N1,500 for the past three years.

 

According to her, the price has shot up gradually to N2,100 within the past year alone.

 

Other residents, while decrying the increase in the price of cooking gas, said that they had also migrated to using coal stoves until the situation improved.

 

-NAN