Following an increase in the price of kerosene, residents of Ogun State have resorted to the use of charcoal stove, popularly known as “kolopot” as alternative means of cooking.
Our correspondent gathered that a bottle of kerosene, which was sold at N100 now goes for N200, a hundred per cent increase in the former price of the product.
The rise in the price of the product followed the recent hike in the price of petrol from N87 to N145, which has also had a ripple effect on the prices of other commodities, especially food items.
A kerosene seller, who said she usually got her supply of the product directly from a flling station, stated that kerosene, which used to be sold at N100 per litre now cost N220 per litre. This, she said was responsible for the hike in the price of the bottle measure from N100 per bottle to N200. Investigations by our correspondent, however, revealed that many residents of the Abeokuta metropolis, who could no longer afford to buy kerosene at such exorbitant rate, have turned to the use of the ‘kolopot’, which is cheaper, as a means of cooking. An elderly woman in the Totoro area of Abeokuta, who simply identifed herself as Iya Mushin, noted that she had to stop cooking with her kerosene stove and switch to the use of kolopot because she could no longer afford kerosene.
She said, “Since kerosene is now very costly, I started using kolopot. If I buy a charcoal worth N100, I can use it to prepare more food than the N200 bottle of kerosene, which may not be enough for the food I want to cook”.
However, an increase in the demand for the charcoal stove (kolopot) in the market has also forced its price up from N250 to N400.
Oladele Ayodele, a kolopot dealer at the Lafenwa Market, told our correspondent that residents now buy more of his wares now than before, particularly with the rise in the price of kerosene.
“Since kerosene became expensive, people have been buying kolopot, and they don’t usually buy stove anymore. The kolopot that we used to sell for N250, now cost N400, while the one we sell at N400 now cost N650. That is why buyers are complaining about the increase in the Price,” Ayodele said.
Meanwhile, charcoal sellers in the state have continued to lament the scarcity of the commodity.
They attributed the insufcient supply of the product to the desperation of the buyers from Lagos State, who, they said were always ready to pay double the price of the product to its suppliers.
This development, has, however, resulted in another increase in the price of the product.
A sack, which was formerly sold at the rate of N1000 now cost N1300, said Mrs. Olaniyan, a seller at the same Lafenwa Market.
She further said that the least size of charcoal cost N100, while the one sold before at N350, now cost N400.
