…blames govt inaction
By Chioma Obinna
Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has condemned the sharp rise in the price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), popularly known as cooking gas, describing the development as “economic cruelty” and warning that unchecked profiteering is undermining citizens’ constitutional right to life.
The group expressed concern over reports that cooking gas now sells for as much as N2,000 per kilogram in some parts of the country, saying the increase has pushed millions of households deeper into energy poverty amid the worsening cost-of-living crisis.
In a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, HURIWA said the situation reflects a dangerous failure of regulation and market oversight, insisting that essential household energy should not be subjected to exploitative pricing.
“This disturbing development has pushed cooking gas beyond the reach of millions of ordinary citizens and has further worsened the already unbearable cost-of-living crisis,” the group said.
HURIWA argued that the crisis extends beyond economics and now constitutes a fundamental human rights issue with potentially life-threatening consequences for vulnerable groups.
“The astronomical rise in the price of cooking gas is not merely an economic issue but a fundamental human rights concern. Families are being forced to choose between cooking their meals and meeting other basic necessities,” it stated. The group linked the soaring cost of LPG to broader constitutional concerns, citing Chapter IV of the 1999 Constitution and arguing that the right to life includes access to conditions that make survival dignified and sustainable.
“A government that watches helplessly while essential commodities become inaccessible to the majority of citizens cannot claim to be fully discharging its constitutional responsibilities,” HURIWA warned.
According to the association, the unchecked market situation amounts to abandoning citizens to economic exploitation.
“The right to life is not limited to protection from violence. It also includes the obligation of the state to ensure that citizens can live decently. When economic hardship becomes extreme and unchecked, it becomes a threat to life itself,” Onwubiko said.
He also criticised what he described as a weak regulatory response to profiteering in the energy sector, warning that continued inaction could deepen poverty and fuel social instability.
“No serious democracy allows unrestrained profiteering at the expense of public welfare. Across the world, governments intervene to protect citizens from exploitative pricing of essential goods,” he added.
HURIWA called on the Federal Government to urgently investigate the causes of the sharp increase in cooking gas prices and take immediate steps to stabilise the market.
The group also urged regulatory agencies to identify and sanction operators engaging in exploitative pricing, while demanding targeted interventions to ease the burden on households already grappling with inflation in food, transportation, electricity and healthcare.
It warned that continued inaction could force more Nigerians to return to the use of firewood and charcoal, with adverse consequences for public health and the environment, including deforestation and respiratory illnesses.
“The government must act now to protect citizens from economic predators and ensure that the constitutional guarantee of dignity and life is not reduced to empty rhetoric,” HURIWA said.
The association reaffirmed that governance should ultimately be judged by its impact on the welfare of citizens, insisting that no policy failure that results in widespread hunger and avoidable hardship can be justified in a democratic society.
