Auchi Residents Lament

Residents of Auchi, Edo, have resorted to the use of charcoal and firewood for cooking as scarcity of kerosene persists around the country.

Investigation by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) revealed that most filling stations in Auchi and its environs have long run out of kerosene with a few still managing to sell the product at N160 per litre.

The situation, NAN investigation revealed, had led to many thriving black market spots in Auchi and adjoining communities.

Black market operators, who are found mainly around major street junctions in Auchi, sell a litre of kerosene for between N200 and N250.

Some residents, who spoke to NAN, described the scarcity as shameful.

One of the residents, Mrs. Edith Elajah, said: “Is it not shameful that what we produce in this country we can’t find it to buy?

“It is even more shameful that it has become easier to get food than to get kerosene to cook it.”

Elajah said the scarcity of the product and its attendant high cost had forced her into using firewood and charcoal for her cooking.

“I have made a makeshift kitchen in my compound where I use firewood for cooking as I can no longer afford high cost of kerosene,” she said.

Another woman, Mrs. Munirat Audu, told NAN that even firewood and charcoal had become expensive because of the demand for them.

Audu, who said a bottle of kerosene was now being sold for N200 in her area, noted that the development had brought hardship to many poor homes.

At the only filling station on Igbe Road where kerosene was being sold in Auchi on Saturday, an official who does not want to be mentioned, told NAN that the price of the product was determined by the cost of importation.

“We do not just increase price arbitrarily, but because we spend so much in getting the product into the country, we have to sell at a price that will ensure recovery of our investment,” he said.