| Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK), generally known as kerosene, sold for N370 a litre on Thursday in Lagos and environs, highest price since Nigeria’s existence as a sovereign nation. Expectedly, the Federal Government and oil marketers swiftly traded blames over the development, as over 70 per cent of average income earners depend on the commodity for cooking. DPK is a semi-deregulated commodity and investigation by Daily Independent showed that the kerosene’s scarcity persisted as a result the government’s domination of the product’s importation. Many filling stations visited by Daily Independent did not have the product while a few that dispense the product refused to display the price on their boards.
Long queues were seen at the mega station retail outlets of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in Ikoyi where the product is sold at regulated price. Further checks however showed that the few stations, where the product is available, sold it between N300 and N370 per litres. “I was able to buy it (kerosene) at N370 per litre after I have pleaded seriously with the attendants,” a middle-aged woman, who simply identified her self as Sadiat, said in Yoruba during a chat with Daily Independent. She pleaded with President Goodluck Jonathan to immediately find a way round this agony. “***We no dey do yanga o***. All we need is for Jonathan to please help us, this suffering is too much,” she retorted. While the product is not available in stations, black marketers dispense the product freely for between 400 and 420 per litre in Oshodi, Ogba, Agege and Abule-Egba areas of Lagos. But the government insisted through the NNPC that there is enough kerosene in circulation, a claim that marketers punctured. Former Minister Of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, told newsmen in Lagos that the scarcity was artificial. This view was corroborated by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of NNPC, Levi Ajuonuma Ajuonuma, who said that marketers were responsible for the scarcity because the commission had enough kerosene in stock, wondering the reason for the scarcity. “NNPC has enough kerosene in stock and we are appealing to major and independent marketers to ensure effective distribution to end users. “We have told them several times to ensure that petroleum products are taken from NNPC depot to the end users to end the scarcity of kerosene. “Marketers are the ones causing artificial scarcity to hike the price of the product,” Ajuonuma said. |
Jun52011