High cost of food, cooking gas, South South residents seek FG intervention

Residents in the South-South have sought Federal Government’s intervention in the ever-increasing cost of food items and cooking gas in the region.

The analysts who made the call in separate interviews, said government should stem the rising cost of the items through proper economic recovery plan and implementation.

They added that Nigerians should assist government in minimising the excesses of middlemen and market associations in hiking the prices of commodities.

The residents also identified the major factors contributing to cooking gas price hike in the nation to include lack of functional refinaries and off-takers for gas distribution.

On prices of food, they identified market forces, insecurity, farmer/headers clashes, insurgency, banditry, poor storage facilities and COVID-19 outbreak as causes of food price hike in the country.

Although the analysts appreciated current government’s efforts in solving the problem, they advised that the intervention should be urgent as food was one of the basic necessities of life.

A civil servant in Asaba, Mr Vincent Adeoye, said: “Our challenge has become double in the sense that the cost of food items is high likewise that of cooking gas.

“How do we survive in this present situation when we buy a cup of beans for N150 and one kilogramme of cooking gas for N700?

“Our salaries cannot even feed our families, not to talk of paying school fees and rent. It is only God who helps us to survive.

“The present economy is making things too difficult for us and I will appeal to the government to come to our rescue.”

Also, Mrs Deborah Diai, a civil servant, said she had resorted to using charcoal for cooking since “the price of domestic gas is now within the reach of the rich.”

“Three kilogrammes of gas does not last up to five days for me, because we are family of six,” she said.