More Hardship for Nigerians as Cooking gas, Diesel Prices Rise, Power Generation drops further
Households and businesses in Nigeria are going through very difficult times as a result of the continued escalation of cooking gas, diesel and other resources.
This becomes unbearable as their incomes have not experienced any meaningful increase in the past few years, which also recorded a significant drop in the value of the Naira, currently going for N1,400/$ at the official market.
A market survey indicated that the price of cooking gas (12.5kg) that stood at N11, 250 in December 2023, has risen to N15, 000, indicating an increase of 33.3 per cent.
Similarly, the price of diesel has risen to N1, 270 per litre in February 2024, from N800 per litre in the corresponding period of 2023.
The market trend is mainly driven by the depreciation of the Naira and increased utilisation of diesel by consumers, including the tanker drivers involved in moving petroleum products from one part of the nation to another.
Also, consumers further suffer from inadequate and unstable supply of electricity as generation, dropped year-on-year, YoY, by 17.8 per cent to 4,015.55 megawatts, MW on February 11, 2024, from 4,887.7 MW recorded in the corresponding period of 2023.
But on month-on-month, MoM, the generation dropped by 19.4 per cent to 4,015.55MW in February, from 4,981.78MW, recorded in the preceding month of January 2024.
The Nigerian Electricity System Operator, the semi-autonomous unit of the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, attributed the factors responsible for the declining trend to inadequate gas to thermal stations and poor state of stations.
Checks showed that the electricity generated remains inadequate for transmission and distribution to consumers, including households and companies in all parts of Nigeria.
It also indicated that the Electricity Distribution Companies, DisCos have embarked on load shedding, targeted at ensuring that the little supply is shared to many consumers at different times.
However, the Nigerian Gas Association, NGA, said it remains proud to support the Federal Government’s renewed focus on prioritising autogas to cushion the effects of the removal of subsidy on the petrol.
