N350 Per Litre! Korosene Price Hits Record High

A survey carried out by P.M.NEWS between yesterday and this morning has shown an unimaginable increase in the price of kerosene.

The product is so scarce that ordinary Nigerians are becoming frustrated and left to ask questions about the cause of the scarcity with no answers forthcoming.

They have also cried out to President Goodluck Jonathan to ameliorate their plight as his government, would not enjoy their support if nothing is done about it.

A visit by our reporters to major fuel stations showed that the product was not available in parts of Lagos State.

Where the product was found, it was discovered that it was either hoarded and sold only to ‘black marketers’ or sold at N350 per litre for those who can afford it while at other areas like Idimu and Igando, it is sold at between N200 and N300 per litre.

In Palmgrove area of the state, a resident, Lemmy Esah, who spoke with P.M.NEWS, complained that the price of the commodity had risen to N360 per litre.

“Around my house in Palmgrove, a litre of kerosene sells for N360. For almost two months now, the commodity has disappeared from the filling stations. What is happening to our country now?

“More than 120 million Nigerians use this commodity for cooking and before now, a litre was sold at N50. Jonathan must do something fast about this.”

P.M.NEWS learnt that the scarcity of the product did not start suddenly. In fact, in the past six months, the product has been out of the reach of the average Nigerian and those affected have either been grumbling silently or crying out with no one to actually come to their aid as the President was busy with his election campaign.

An angry resident, Wale Mustapha, who spoke with P.M.NEWS on the biting situation wondered what the former petroleum minister, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, was able to achieve.

“She made a statement which made me realise that she is not capable. During Jonathan’s campaign in Lagos State, the minister was proud to tell the people that it was the president who actually called her attention to the rising cost of the product before she decided to take action, an action that has further put the people at the receiving end of the problem.

“If Jonathan does not do anything about this situation, he should expect the unexpected from those he thinks he is serving or ruling.

“You can imagine that for about three months now, we have been using firewood and the price has also gone up as a result of the high price of kerosene,” he said.

Checks by P.M.NEWS revealed that last week, kerosene was sold at N600 per litre in some areas of Bariga, Lagos and that though, the price has dropped at the filling stations, the scarcity of the product has made the black marketers increase the price to between N800 and N1,000.

A resident of the area, who gave her name simply as Mrs. Thompson, lamented the cost of the commodity and pleaded with those in authority to act fast before the people react violently.

It was revealed that in virtually all the filling stations in the area, there was no kerosene. P.M.NEWS met frustrated consumers of the product at some of the filling stations sitting on their kegs and jerry cans in endless wait for the product.

At Egbeda, another area of the state, the situation was the same and those who had the product hoarded it so they could sell at prices almost beyond the reach of the common man.

At Ejigbo, the majority of the consumers who spoke with P.M.NEWS, said they have reverted to using firewood as they could no longer continue to “suffer at the expense of the rich in the society.”

It was also discovered that the product was very scarce in the area and those who could afford it, were seen roaming the filling stations in the area.

This situation was the same in Ikotun and Isolo areas of the state.

Mrs. Ify Njirika, in her reaction, said the product had become scarce in the state and was only available at the NNPC depots where it is sold to only selected people on the basis of familiarity.

In Alagbado area of Lagos State, a four litre gallon is sold at N1,350, while a litre is sold at N200.

Residents were also seen searching for the product .

A kerosene seller who was asked the reason for the increase in the price of the product said it was due to scarcity of the product.

She said she went to her suppliers in the morning and could only get a 25 litre keg of the product instead of the 200 litres of the commodity she earlier set out to buy.

Another seller, Mrs. Akinwale, while lamenting the absence of the product, complained that the small quantity she left at home for use Was sold out by her son when she was not around, saying she did not even have any to use at home any longer.

At the Destiny Filling station located at Idimu, the product was sold at N200 per litre as at yesterday.

A resident of the area wondered why the product could be so scarce in a country which has crude oil in abundance.

“What type of government would Jonathan say he is running when the people are not happy?” he asked.

Another resident, Sinat Ajise, who is a retailer of the product in the area asked “If they could be selling to us at N200, how much do you expect us to sell the product?”

When contacted on phone this morning, the NNPC spokesperson, Livy Ajuonima, declined to speak on the price hike but asked our reporter to forward his questions through a text message so he could forward the text to those concerned.

The text message was sent but there was no response as at the time of filing in this report.

The former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke had about two weeks ago during an interactive session with journalists in Lagos blamed marketers and middlemen for the continuous rise in the price of kerosene, HHK.

“Checks at the NNPC and its subsidiary the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, PPMC indicate that we have enough in terms of product sufficiency.

“Our investigation shows that kerosene has however become scarce and selling at high price due to distribution problems caused by middlemen who have made it their vocation to profiteer from the product,’’ Alison-Madueke stated.

The former minister had consequently directed the managements of the NNPC and the DPR to devise ways of ameliorating the situation.

P.M.NEWS gathered that as a result of the directive, the NNPC and the PPMC fine tuned their monitoring process of loading of kerosene products from the three refineries and the coastal jetties to ensure that the product get to all nooks and crannies of the country.

DPR was also mandated to ensure that the products are sold at the right price in marketing outlets across the country. NNPC also said it increased the volume of kerosene allocation from 10 million litres to 12 million litres per day in an effort the corporation said is to guarantee that the country is wet with kerosene.

According to Austen Oniwon, Group Managing Director, NNPC, the 12 million figure is in excess of the national consumption level of about 10 million litres per day.

He also revealed that the PPMC has established a special Monitoring Committee on kerosene distribution saddled with the function of tracking the movement of kerosene from the refineries and coastal depots – the point of discharge through the tank farms. But these efforts have not succeeded in stopping the rising price of kerosene in the open market. Sources within NNPC told P.M.NEWS that it will be difficult for the Corporation to stop the rising price of the product due to activities of marketers and middlemen.

According to him, the marketers hijack Dual Purpose Kerosene, DPK, which is a higher grade of kerosene being imported from abroad and sell it as aviation fuel to operators in the airline industry. He added that only Nigerian refineries can produce House Hold Kerosene, HHK, which is a lower grade product and not viable for conversion for use as aviation fuel.

But because the local refineries are producing at a very low level, the corporation has been forced to rely on imports from the international market where only the DPK is available. Refineries abroad produce most DPK and not the HHK.

He added that as long as the NNPC continues to import the DPK, marketers will also continue to hijack it at the point of distribution, blend it and sell to airline operators at a higher price.

This, he added, will continue to keep the price to domestic consumers of the product at a very high level.

—Ayorinde Oluokun, William Igenegbai, Eromosele Ebhomele, Cyriacus Izuekwe & Dedeigbo Ayodeji