FEATURE: Hike in cooking gas price creates survival crisis for students

Amidst the rising inflation in Nigeria, students face hard times in a bid to survive academic pursuits in tertiary institutions across the country. MIRACLE AKUBUO, a freelance journalist in South-West Nigeria, reports.

Taiwo Joshua, presumably in his early twenties, set out from his hostel with the aim of using his last penny from his ‘pocket money’ to refill his cooking gas with ecstasy in the early hours of a cold Sunday morning in August.

The joy on his face disappeared instantly when the attendant at the filling station broke the news of a hike in price to him, he didn’t believe his ears until he saw others refilling at the new amount.

“This is serious,” he cried out, expressing the fear of survival with a sad heart. He lamented that he found the increase “outrageous” because it was less than 24 hours ago when his buddies came to the station with the old price tag to refill earlier that day.

“What I had in mind was the normal 800 naira that we used to fill it before until the attendant told me about a new change, it’s the old price that I have and budgeted,” said Joshua, a 200-level student of the Prince Abubakar Audu University Akungba (PAUU), Kogi State.

Narrating his ordeal, Joshua told Ripples Nigeria that he believed that the incessant increase in cooking gas has affected not only him but other students in his citadel of learning.

“Not only the price of gas has increased but also food commodities. How do they [the government] think we will cope with that? You see, most of us are going through a lot already. If not that we cannot protest, we would have done it because this hike has reduced the poor masses [like us] to one or two meals daily,” he stressed.

Plunged Into A Crisis

“The government should find a way to solve this because it is not only me that is facing the harsh period, we were about 10 of us that have calculated the cost of the gas per week. In fact, this is too unbearable to adapt easily.”

In May 2023, President Bola Tinubu, the Nigerian president, announced the removal of fuel subsidy on petrol, saying it was in the best interest of the citizens.

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This decision was made at a time Nigerians were just recovering from the menace of a controversial cashless policy.

Since the development, the country has been experiencing a surge in the cost of goods and services, placing the citizens in a confused state of living and finding it hard to carry out their daily activities.

According to a report, about 23.2 million Nigerians are unemployed. With the rising inflation affecting essential needs required for survival, students from low income homes bear the brunt of the crisis.

Finding A Balance In The Dilemma

Shadowed by the difficulties in survival with the high transportation costs, Julius Balogun, a ND I student of the Mass Communication department in the Federal Polytechnic Offa, Kwara State, explained his ordeal with a distressed voice.

“This is a crucial issue that requires quick intervention. When the price of things are high, you barely see students in school. Now, the price of cooking gas is increasing and this is making some students who cannot afford the expenses to skip classes.

“For me especially, the only option left for me when I have exhausted my little allowances on the unnecessary expenses is to skip classes for survival,” he revealed.

Another student of the school, Fowowe Abraham, recalled a time when he used to enjoy his life as a student. Now, he believes those days are gone. “The hike has affected me and instead of cooking, I’m now taking snacks because it’s cheaper.”

Babarinde Abiodun, a sophomore at Ekiti State University (EKSU), said that the inflation in the country is like “a plague on students’ lives who are already in a challenging academic environment”.

‘One Meal A Day’… More Starvation

Blessing Nwani, a 200 level student at the Federal University of Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), shared her plight on the exacerbated price of cooking gas in the country, indicating the level of starvation it has caused a lot of students, including herself.

When asked how she is coping, she said: “with the price of cooking gas now, I have taken drastic actions in minimizing the way I cook. Before I cooked twice daily, but since the price of gas got high, I now cook once daily or not at all in order to manage the gas and ensure survival.

“Not only that the price of gas has increased but the quantity and effectiveness of gas has also reduced, the gas that usually lasts for two to three weeks now takes one week and some days which is unbearable” she claimed.

Experts Weigh In, Harp On Risks

Emmanuel Kilaso, founder of Securecycle Initiative told Ripples Nigeria that “an increase in the price of refilling a gas cooker will automatically affect living costs for students as this will strain their limited budgets, making it harder to afford essential needs.

“This might discourage students from using gas for cooking, potentially pushing them to less environmentally friendly cooking methods. This can have broader implications for sustainability efforts on campus and the community where the school is situated.

“The financial stress and challenges associated with cooking gas inflation could negatively affect a student’s ability to concentrate on their studies and impact their academic performance,” the expert noted.

Ibrahim Hamzat, a tax analyst at Leadway Group, opined that consumers would beat the final burden of inflation whenever it occurs, adding that it affects food security.

“To evade huge costs, food sellers might use alternative ways like charcoal or firewood and this can produce harmful pollutants that can increase the risk of [their] health problems,” he noted.

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