Political instability in Nigeria under the Abacha administration in 1993/94 as a result of the annulment of the June 12, 1992, presidential election led by the late business tycoon Chief M.K.O. had won. Abiola- caused a severe shortage of kerosene which was clearly felt in various parts of the country. Kerosene shortage led to the invention of the Abacha Coal-Pot, a locally made coal stove. Over the years, Abacha Coal-Pot cooking technology has become widespread, and its use has spread rapidly due to the continuous rise in prices of kerosene and cooking gas. In Nigeria, the official price of kerosene per liter has increased by more than 200% in the last decade and is now sold at an unofficial price that is almost 100% higher than the current official price of around US$0.50. This ugly trend has revived the coal trade in various regions of the country and the forests of the population are suffering as a result.
The coal trade, the wealthiest business in the Oke Ogun area of Oyo State – the area where the Old Oyo National Park is located – has spread to various parts of Kwara, Lagos and Ogun States. In Saki – an ancient city and the largest town in the Oke Ogun region – there is no street without a major drug dealer frequented by wholesalers and retailers even from neighboring states. As early as the 1990s, the company was organized in such a way that different interest groups came together.
In contrast to the cases of land dispossession of the Twa in Rwanda, the Ogiek in Kenya, the Batwa in Uganda, the Indians in Guyana and the Suramaki in Suriname, this is a pathetic case in which people, aided by economic hardship, are affected by insensitivity. The government is destroying its forests at an alarming and unprecedented rate.
Over the course of the decade, prices for wood products rose dramatically due to the wood shortage at the time. Food production appears to be shrinking as people abandon farming for the more lucrative charcoal trade as kerosene is in short supply. The environment became very dirty, and fighting broke out as some people illegally went into other people’s forests to cut wood for charcoal. All because there was not enough kerosene back then and we Nigerians are still struggling with the same kerosene, petrol and diesel problems.
What is worse is that the government have not made a concerted effort to curb or stop this trend. No real information campaigns have been carried out to educate and raise awareness among the population, particularly about the environmental consequences of the coal trade. People are demanding the government to show seriousness and reduce prices of kerosene and cooking gas.
Before kerosene was reintroduced in the country, many people had already switched to coal boilers (Abacha stove) because they could not afford the new kerosene price.