Some residents of Calabar, Cross River State, have decried the rise in the price of liquefied petroleum gas, otherwise known as cooking gas.

It would be recalled that the price of cooking gas in Calabar recently rose from N1,300 to between N1,750 and N1,900 per kilogram in both gas stations and roadside vendors.

The residents who spoke on Monday described the price increase as “alarming and frustrating”.

Uduak Edem, a pump attendant in a popular gas station in the Calabar metropolis, said that she did not know the real cause of the increase.

“I am just an attendant. The management fixed the new price, and we were not told the reason for the increase.

“We were only told to sell at N1,650 per litre; that is what I am doing. We won’t disobey management’s order,” he said.

Noble Asuquo, a roadside gas vendor, said that he sold one kilogram of gas for N1,900.

Mr Asuquo stated that the price of gas had been steadily increasing over the past three weeks.

“We were selling at N1,350 three weeks ago; this increase has reduced the purchasing power of my customers.

“Because of the new price, some users buy as little as one or two kilograms. It is rare to see people filling their cylinders these days,” he said.

A resident, Josephine Udoh, said that cooking gas was gradually becoming unaffordable by the ordinary people.

She urged the federal government to take deliberate steps towards reducing the price of cooking gas in the interest of low-income earners in Nigeria.

“I used to cook with a kerosene burner until it became practically impossible to get kerosene due to availability and cost.

“I started using gas with the hope that it would be more available and cheaper. Gradually, gas is becoming unaffordable,” she said.

(NAN)