Some residents in Port Harcourt on Tuesday appealed to the Federal Government to intervene in the rising price of domestic gas and cylinders.
The residents told The Tide source in Port Harcourt that the price of domestic gas and cylinders were no longer affordable.
According to  reports, the price of 12.5 kg gas cylinder without a burner is now 12,000, while the one with a burner (camp gas) goes for N15, 000.
A 9 kg cylinder with burner sells for N10, 000, while the price of 6kg camp gas is N8, 000.
Some end users said that although kerosene was cheaper, but the risk of adulteration and reversal from gas to kerosene were the challenges.
Mrs Angela Okala, a caterer, called on the Federal Government to extend its price monitoring to domestic gas and accessories.
“I know that government will like more people to use cooking gas, but the poor cannot afford to save money to buy even the camp gas.
“The Federal Government recently inaugurated a committee to monitor price of goods in the market, it should be extended to cooking gas and the burner.
“This will help to make cooking gas and its burner affordable even to the poor in the society,” Okala said.
Mrs Dorathy George, a market woman, said that the current attraction of kerosene to many Nigerians in spite of its hazards was the affordability of stove compared to gas cooker.
“If a stove could be bought between N2, 500 and N3, 500 and the least of the camp gas sells for N8, 000, every low income earner will go for kerosene stove even with its attendant risks.
“So, my appeal is that the government either makes the cooking gas expensive and bring down the price of kerosene, but ensure its availability and check adulteration,” she said.
George listed the advantages of using cooking gas to include faster and neater cooking with no carbon monoxide emission.
She said that she would have loved to change to gas, but for the cost.
Mr Williams Godwin, a small-scale businessman, said government should encourage Nigerians to use gas burners to reduce the risks associated with kerosene.
“I know that there is also cooking gas fire which occurs out of carelessness, but if government can get cooking gas into people’s residence, the risk of kerosene in the kitchen is gone.
“We produce gas in large quantity and equally produce cooking gas; it will be easier to pipe gas to people’s houses at subsidised rates and people will be billed like in the case of electricity,” Godwin said.
The residents said they believed that once government intervened in the price of domestic gas and burners, every Nigerian would start using gas, while lives and property would be saved from kerosene adulteration and explosion.