{"id":2216,"date":"2026-07-24T13:28:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T12:28:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/?p=2216"},"modified":"2026-07-24T13:38:04","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T12:38:04","slug":"opinionrising-cooking-gas-prices-are-making-life-harder-for-nigerian-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/?p=2216","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: Rising Cooking Gas Prices Are Making Life Harder For Nigerian Students"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>By Iteme Rita<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The continuous increase in the price of cooking gas is becoming a serious challenge for many Nigerians, especially students. As a student of Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka, I have seen how the rising cost of cooking gas affects the daily lives of students who already struggle with school fees, accommodation, transportation, and feeding. What was once considered an affordable and convenient source of cooking energy is gradually becoming a luxury for many students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For most students living off campus, cooking their own meals is one of the best ways to save money. However, with the constant increase in gas prices, many students are now forced to spend more than they budgeted just to refill their gas cylinders. Some have reduced the number of times they cook each week, while others now rely on food vendors or resort to using charcoal and firewood, which are less convenient and can be harmful to both health and the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The increase in cooking gas prices also affects small businesses within the university community. Food vendors and restaurant owners who depend on gas for cooking must spend more to prepare meals. In many cases, they increase the prices of food to cover these additional expenses. Unfortunately, students, who are already facing financial challenges, are the ones who bear the burden of these higher costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Although experts point to factors such as exchange rate fluctuations, transportation costs, and inflation as reasons for the increase, ordinary Nigerians are more concerned about how to survive. Many families and students do not have extra income to cope with these rising expenses. As a result, they are forced to make difficult choices between buying cooking gas and meeting other essential needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In my opinion, the government should take practical steps to make cooking gas more affordable. Policies that encourage local production, improve distribution, and reduce unnecessary costs within the supply chain could help stabilise prices. There should also be measures to protect low-income earners and students from the impact of rising energy costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cooking gas is no longer a luxury; it is an essential household necessity. If the price continues to rise without meaningful intervention, more Nigerians will abandon clean cooking energy for unsafe alternatives. As students, we hope that the government and other relevant stakeholders will act quickly to ensure that cooking gas remains affordable and accessible to everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Iteme Rita<\/strong> is a 200-level student in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies, Delta State University, Abraka.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Iteme Rita The continuous increase in the price of cooking gas is becoming a serious challenge for many Nigerians, especially students. As a student of Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka, I have seen how the rising cost of cooking gas affects the daily lives of students who already struggle with school fees, accommodation, transportation, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"iawp_total_views":12,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,15],"tags":[285,594,288,593],"class_list":["post-2216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trendingnews","category-viewspoint","tag-cooking-gas","tag-economic-struggles","tag-gas-prices","tag-students-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2216"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2224,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2216\/revisions\/2224"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}