DPR, NNPC To Reduce Kerosene Price Soon

There are indications that the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, may have started taking necessary measures to crash the price of kerosene as directed by the Federal Government last week.

The Federal Government had ordered the two parastatals to crash  the high cost of household kerosene, as well as make the commodity available to the masses, who rely on the scarce commodity for their domestic use.

Handing down the orders in Lagos at an interactive session with journalists in Lagos, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, said the respective agencies must end the sufferings of Nigerians in accessing the product as soon as possible, even as the sector operates under a free market system.

She said: “Price of kerosene has increased so much in recent weeks, and we have directed that the DPR put in place strong control mechanisms to arrest the situation.”

The minister blamed the scarcity and high cost of the commodity on marketers, who are profitting from the situation at the expense of the people, but added that government will not fold its arms while innocent Nigerians suffer unduly.

She noted that the NNPC, through its subsidiary, the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, PPMC, has sufficient product to meet national demand.

“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.”

As a way out, the minister charged the managements of the NNPC and the DPR to bring to an end, the ugly situation within the next few days.

In complaince with the directive, sources at NNPC revealed that an arrangement has been put in place to ensure that kerosene price returns to normal soon.

According to the source,under the arrangement the NNPC through its subsidiary, PPMC, will ensure that products are loaded from the three refineries and the coastal jetties to all the nooks and crannies of the country while DPR has the mandate to enforce compliance measures and all necessary control strategies to check  arbitrary pricing and sharp practices.

The source said NNPC has swung into action by increasing the volume of kerosene allocation from 10million litres to record 12million litres per day to guarantee that kerosene is available all over the country.  The 12 million figure is in excess of the national consumption level of about 10million litres per day.