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Kerosene: ‘As the price soars, it’s still unavailable’

In an effort to pacify the nation, last Monday, Group Managing Director, NNPC, Mr. Austen Oniwon, after a meeting with officials of the Major Oil…

In an effort to pacify the nation, last Monday, Group Managing Director, NNPC, Mr. Austen Oniwon, after a meeting with officials of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) said the scarcity will come to an end in ten days. He explained that the industry is aware of the pains Nigerians are going through with regard to the non availability of kerosene, which was the reason for the meeting with marketers. He added that Nigeria at the moment has about a 40-day sufficiency stock of kerosene to be distributed nationwide.

Oniwon promised that beginning from today, major marketers across the country would get products in large quantities for onward distribution to their retail points so that kerosene would become readily available to consumers.

At the briefing, Mr.Obafemi Olawore, Executive Secretary of MOMAN, , said the association was ready to work with NNPC towards bringing relief to Nigerians who are suffering due to scarcity of the product.

Amidst the scarcity which has continued despite the assurances, there are fears of adulteration of the product by marketers in order to maximize profits as Madam Blessing Aikhore a retailer in Ogba, in the Ikeja area of Lagos said. “My greatest fear is that when we have scarcity for a long time like this, we usually end up buying DPK. That is why we hear stories of kerosene explosions in homes. It is the bad kerosene that is sold to us that causes it. We don’t even know what they mix with it,” she expressed.

DPK, Dual Purpose Kerosene, is ironically sold more expensively than the good kerosene as it goes for N370 a litre. According to Aikhore, “this is the most expensive we have ever bought it. In the peak of it, I went as far as Oshodi to buy where black marketers sold freely and unperturbed on the streets at N400 per litre. It seems better now because I don’t have to go that far anymore before I get to buy.”

In Port Harcourt, EbiKentebe informed during a telephone interview with our correspondent that a litre goes for about N150 if purchased from major marketers while it could sell for N160 to N170 from small marketers. Generally, petrol stations do not sell the product. There are very long queues in stations where the product is sometimes surprisingly available between dusk to dawn if the consumer can keep vigil and wait for whenever is made available.

Retailers who sell from tanks in front of their homes further hike the prices and are hesitant to sell in litres. Rather, they sell in the different sizes of Ragolis, Swan or Eva water bottles with big sizes going for between N280 and N300. This could be said to be the situation in the majority of states in Nigeria as Mr. Abdul Danladi, an Abuja resident testified to this too.

“Even before the scarcity began, kerosene is not a product one could drive into the station to buy the way one does with petrol. If you are familiar with petrol station owners or the attendants, under special arrangements with them, they call you when the product is available. That’s how I get kerosene. But since the scarcity, that arrangement seems to be on hold as the station I usually patronise now prefers to call the madams who are major retailers. Those ones give them better tips than we who use them purely for domestic purposes. As the price soars, it’s still unavailable.”

This, Hajia Sheri Yesufu (not real name) a Kabala Doki resident in Kaduna who spoke in pidgin English confirmed. “Yes, they call me. I have been doing business with them for almost fourteen years now. So why will they not call me when they know what I do for them? Even the call they call me, it is not as if I get it on the spot, I still have to wait and tip them and come and carry it late at night.”

Unlike the perception that kerosene is a product used only by the low class, a good number of elites use it as well. Mrs. Jane Amedu, an accountant, confirmed this. “I use my gas to make simple and fast meals. But when I want to boil water or prepare something like beans, I prefer to use the kerosene stove. That way, I preserve my gas especially towards the end of the year when these products are likely to get scarce. But this time we are all adversely hit by the scarcity and skyrocketing cost of kerosene. Last weekend I ran out of kerosene and my maid was off duty. So I had to go and queue up to buy it. After I had spent two hours waiting unsuccessfully, I had to go and buy from the black market. A four litre jerrican usually sold for N500 (five hundred naira). Last Saturday I paid N1, 000 for it amidst a lot of pleading. If I have to do everything using kerosene, four litres will take me for three days. So in one week I will need at least eight litres. I refill gas for N3, 500 and I use it for at least one month. Nowadays, gas is obviously cheaper than kerosene.”

Mrs. Awe Ayanru in Benin said, “The product is available in petrol stations because the government ensures that its task force goes round the stations to make sure kerosene is sold and sold at the right amount (N50 per litre) and not reserved for black marketers. But the queues are such a nightmare that in the long run when you calculate the time wasted and all that, it is cheaper to come home to buy from retailers at N140.”

As a result of the scarcity many have resorted to using firewood which for its own part is causing another problem to the environment in terms of desertification and pollution which could be harmful to the health as well.

Burning firewood is known to produce black carbon soot which isn’t healthy to breathe. International development agencies estimate that more than 1.5 million people die young each year from avoidable respiratory ailments associated with cooking.

Environmentalist Donna Aimiuwu explained that “Those who burn firewood usually have more populated household and find it cheaper and readily available. They also go for the best because the thicker the tree, the longer it takes to burn. Unfortunately, they don’t replant. Trees support our living system in that they emit the oxygen we need and take in the carbon-dioxide we emit. They also replenish the environment, by cooling the system. It may seem minute but when viewed on a larger scale, smoke from burning wood smoke is among the factors causing climate change. This ‘shuts’ off the oxygen content in the air and increases carbon monoxide. There are also trees which serve medicinal purposes beside their aesthetic value and we are gradually losing them.”

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