Cooking gas, kerosene prices compound households’ woes

Nigerians are now faced with what may be termed an existential challenge as they are not just battling escalating prices of foodstuff, but also are spending more to cook.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) Price Watch and National Household Kerosene Price Watch for May 2022 released yesterday, reported that the average retail price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas also known as cooking gas increased by 89.28 percent from N2,071.69 in May 2021 to N3921.35 in May 2022.

For kerosene, the NBS reported that the retail price per litre rose by 86.94 percent from N363.50 in May 2021 to N679.54 in May 2022.

On a month-on-month basis, cooking gas price rose from N3800.47 recorded in April 2022 to NN3921.35 while Kerosene Price rose from N589.82 in April 2022 to N679.54 in May 2022.

The NBS report showed that the highest average price for refilling a 5kg Cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) was recorded in Gombe with N4366.67, followed by Bayelsa with N4325.00 and Adamawa with N4250.00.

However, the report says Yobe recorded the lowest average price with N3200.00; this was followed by Ogun and Ondo with N3450.00 and N3480.77 respectively.

In addition, prices analyzed by zones showed that the average retail price for refilling a 5kg Cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) was highest in the South -East with N 4094.39 followed by the North-Central with N3989.98 and South-South with N3977.72, while the South West recorded the lowest average retail price of N3719.53.

The average price for refilling a 12.5kg Cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) increased to N8726.30 in May 2022 from N8164.37 in April 2022 representing a 6.88 percent month-on-month increase.

Similarly, on a year-on-year basis, the average retail price for refilling a 12.5kg cooking gas increased by 103.46 percent from N4288.95 in May 2021.

For kerosene, the state profile analysis showed that the highest average price per litre in May 2022 was recorded in Enugu with N868.75, followed by Ebonyi with N861.11 and Imo with N801.67. On the other hand, the lowest price was recorded in Bayelsa with N558.06, followed by Yobe with N601.39 and Nasarawa with N603.33.

The report says the South-East recorded the highest average retail price per litre of household kerosene with N773.09, followed by the South-West with N738.19 and the North-Central with N668.78, while the North-East recorded the lowest with N632.06. The average retail price per gallon of Household Kerosene paid by consumers increased by 10.38% on a month-on-month basis from N2,136.52 in April 2022 to N2,358.30 in May 2022.

On a year-on-year basis, this increased by 86.13% from N1,266.99 in May 2021. On state profile analysis, Abuja recorded the highest average retail price with N3,050.00, followed by Osun with N2,914.29 and Ogun with N2,795.00.

On the other hand, Kogi recorded the lowest price with N1,920.00, followed by Gombe and Kebbi with N1,995.00 and N2,025.00, respectively.

Analysis by zone showed that the South-West recorded the highest average retail price per gallon of Household Kerosene with N2,555.89, followed by the South-East and North-West with N2,548.07 and N2,390.86 respectively, while the North-East recorded the lowest with N2,126.90.