..With the ban, a bag of smuggled charcoal from outside of the state jumped to N6,000 from N2,500 in the state capital – Resident
…No kerosene for stove, no money for cylinder, cooking gas electric cooker…
…Students are not spared, They are told to use cooking gas only, in the hostels; are they given, can the palliatives cover gas refilling? – Parents
…The Dead are also affected with the scarcity of firewood for burial at the cemetery – Community lament
…Firewood and charcoal vendors pay heavily at every security check mounted roadblock before getting to town. This translates to the cost of cooking for those who could afford. The ban on the means of cooking for the poor without providing alternative amounts to lack of empathy and human feelings – Otunba of Ekiti
…Binani the amazon fed with the milk of human kindness and empathy spirited will not, as a Governor, ban the use of firewood and charcoal for cooking without providing alternative to and for the convenience and greatest good of the majority poor – Village women lamentation
She was among the Beneficiaries of the President Muhammadu Buhari led government’s N20,000 empowerment initiatives to the poor, to help boost their local businesses, which came through the Most Distinguished Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed, a.k.a Binani, representing Adamawa central senatorial district in the 9th national assembly. The legislator judiciously shared the money for the purpose to which it was intended across the 21 local government areas of the state.
After receiving her share of N20,000, she went straight to its market for the bags of charcoal, then sold at N2,000 per bag, she would reveal in touching lament. She would measure it in smaller quantities to resale at prices between N100 to N200 and the profit margin was to her contentment, encouraging.
She would add part of the profit after sale to increase the purchase of the bags of charcoal for resale and use part of the profit for domestic purposes; helping her lovely hard-working husband with some affordable consumables and even payment of their children’s school fees.
Her gratitude to the amazing amazon would not be estimated as much as the constant prayers that “may Binani’s aspiration turn to reality. May Allah the Almighty, the Majesty and Most Merciful shower mercy, guide and guard her against every form of conspiracy and against adversaries”.
However the charcoal business also translate to other businesses ground to a halt; things fall apart for the most poor families with the ban of the sales of firewood and charcoal. “It is no longer at ease; our children are starving. we are finding it difficult to cook. We can’t use stove owing to the scarcity of kerosene, cylinder is now difficult to afford and cooking gas is on constant rise.
“The charcoal business had to stop due to the unaffordability and the risen market prices of commodities, electricity, the water vendors, hospital bills and even school fees have consumed all the money saved,” the struggling beneficiary would painfully lament.
The middle class families also have painful testimonies that follow the ban on firewood and charcoal, saying: “Truly, if we can be allowed to cast our votes again, gender and ethnicity wouldn’t play any liquor like culture”.