Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK), known as kerosene, hit an alltime
high price of N600 per litre at the weekend, worsening the pains of over 30
million households who depend on the product for cooking. In its place,
millions of poor Nigerians who use it for their stoves, lanterns, and other
purposes, are now seeking alternatives to the very important and most commonly
used petroleum product.
They
have now resorted to the use of charcoal, firewood and polythene bags to make
fire to cook for their homes. More fortunate Nigerians use gas cookers, even
though the price of gas has also been on the rise. The scarcity hit major
cities across the country, with most retail outlets in Abuja, Lagos, Ogun, Oyo,
Osun, Enugu, Akwa Ibom, Kano, Kaduna and Abia states going out of stock.
The Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG),
known as cooking gas, also remained high at the weekend selling at N320 per
kilogram. A survey by the OTL, organisers of Nigeria’s biggest downstream
seminar and exhibition, showed that over 30 million Nigerian households use
kerosene for cooking and for light as well as fuel for local lanterns.
The scarcity of the product, checks
by New Telegraph revealed at the weekend, worsened with the product selling
between N200 and N600 per litre nationwide, depending on proximity of the area
to Lagos, where the loading depots for the product are situated.
DPK has been deregulated and
majority of marketers, who hitherto reduced importation of the product, this newspaper
gathered, have now halted importation due to difficulty in accessing foreign
exchange. “The shutdown of refineries that produce DPK through which the market
is augmented, is another major problem,” a marketer told New Telegraph.
“The Pipelines and Products
Marketing Company (PPMC) is now the major importer of the product and except
the majors, most of the independent marketers, if not all, depend on loading
from PPMC’s depots. And this explains reasons for the scarcity,” he added.
The price of cooking gas has also
skyrocketed, making it unaffordable to some middle income earners, some of who
have reverted to kerosene as a cheaper source of energy. “This has also
increased the pressure on kerosene and contributed to its scarcity, because it
contributes to the high demand for the scarce product with limited supply,” the
marketer said.
New Telegraph’s findings showed that
while filling stations are going out of kerosene, the smaller retailers who
have the product in Lagos and Ogun sold it for as high as N450 and N600 per
litre. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation NNPC) and its subsidiary,
PPMC, were not available for comments.
NNPC spokesperson, Mallam Garbadeen
Muhammed, neither picked calls on his cell phone nor responded to a text
message seeking his reaction to the scarcity. In Abuja, the product is mostly
sold at the “black market” at a very exorbitant price. A litre of the product
goes for as much as N270 to N300, depending on the area.
A factional secretary of the
Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigerian (IPMAN), Alhaji Danladi
Pasali, said that the product is in high demand. Pasali said that some
industries use kerosene for one thing or the other in the process of
manufacturing their products.
In Kano, residents have dumped the
use of kerosene for charcoal and firewood following the rising cost. The
product now sells at N1,200 a gallon from just N500. Mrs. Kemi Oladifo, who is
a resident of Tudunmurtala, a locality of Nassarawa Local Government in Kano,
told our correspondent that she used to buy like two gallons and sell to
neighbours, until the price rose to over N1000, forcing her out of business.
She said that most of those that
used to purchase from her have now dumped kerosene for charcoal and firewood
because they cannot afford N200 for a bottle.A beer bottle of kerosene now
sells between N160 and N200 in Oyo State.
At some major stations, which
dispense it, a litre is N220. Mrs. Bukola Oyekola, a secondary school teacher
in Ibadan, said: “Use of stove has now become a difficult thing as a beer
bottle of kerosene now costs N180, unlike less than N100 we used to buy it
before. The price of gas has also gone.
Charcoal is now the alternative in
many homes. With the current non-payment of salary in this state, I have been
compelled to improvise a saw dust-powered stove as alternative to kerosene.” It
is the same story in Plateau State as many houses have shifted from using
kerosene to charcoal, gas and firewood. Kerosene now sells for N250 per litre
in filling stations, while a gallon of four litres goes between N1,450 and
N1,500 in a market. A visit to the popular charcoal market in Jos, witnessed a
lot of people patronising the market.
Mrs. Phoebe Dawal told New
Telegraph, at the charcoal market in Jos, that: “We had to start buying
charcoal because kerosene is costly now. We normally use kerosene throughout
cooking at home. But now, we buy charcoal and even firewood to mix so that it
would serve us at home.”
Investigation also revealed that it
is hard for individuals to get the kerosene at the filling stations even at the
cost of N250 because the filling station owners prefer dealing with middle
marketers, who buy in large quantity and thereafter sell to individuals.
The people of Kaduna State are also
groaning under the exorbitant cost of kerosene as the cooking fuel costs N1,100
per gallon, indicating a 600 per cent increase in price. Speaking to our
correspondent, Malama Hadiza Adam, said that housewives now use polythene bags
and used pure water sachets as “fuel” for those that use firewood in cooking.
She said that the polythene bags and various plastic waste materials are used
to start fire with firewood.
Another respondent that saw dust and
wood shavings are now used as sources of energy in order to aid combustion.
Similarly, some residents in Lagos have lamented over the hike in the price of
kerosene, which now sells for as much as N220 and N240 in many outlets.
While many residents are gradually
switching over to firewood to cook, others are adopting charcoal as those who
are using LPG are lamenting the sudden hike in the price of gas. Speaking with
New Telegraph, a resident, Mrs. Sarah Awe, who lives in Surulere, appealed to
President Muhammadu Buhari to do everything possible to reduce the price of
kerosene and gas for the sake of the masses.
According to her, “It is sad that we
buy a bottle of kerosene, which is usually less than a litre for N250 at local
outlets. By the time you go to the filling stations, thinking it would be
lower, you will realise that a litre is sold for N240 or above.” Kerosene costs
between N200 and N220 per litre in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.
Most families now combine the use of
gas with kerosene stove and coal pots to save costs. Some families have also
resorted to using sawdust. “I have seen some people at the saw mill gathering
sawdust. You know, we used sawdust in those days,” a housewife told our
reporter. Residents of Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital and environs, are
lamenting over the cost. A litre of kerosene costs between N270 and N300
depending on the location or part of the metropolis.
A housewife, Mrs. Margaret Emmanuel,
who resides in Tudun Abu, a suburb of Lafia, lamented high cost of kerosene,
saying, “I no longer buy kerosene now because of the high cost. I use charcoal
or firewood as alternative to kerosene.” Before now, a litre of kerosene was
sold between N120 and N130 and N1,500 per 25 litre gallon and was available at
filling stations in Ebonyi State.
The commodity is now sold between
N240 and N260 per litre and N6,000 per 25 litre gallon. It is a similar story
in Yobe State as many have resorted to firewood. In Damaturu, the Yobe State
capital, for more than three months now, no filing station was seen selling
kerosene. Rather, kerosene is sold by black marketers at exorbitant prices.
A gallon of kerosene in Potiskum,
the commercial centre of the state, sells from N1,500 to N1,700. Most locals
now use firewood, as well as coal, as sources of their cooking energy. In
Jalingo, the product is sold by black marketers at exorbitant prices.
A gallon of kerosene in Jalingo is
sold between N1,300 and N1,500. “We travel from here to Wukari or Takum to get
kerosene, and we buy it from the major marketers at the rate of N240 per
litre,” a roadside black marketer told our reporter.
The story is not different in
Maiduguri, Borno State. Our correspondent, who went round reports that it is
only black marketers who sell the commodity at N1,400 per gallon. One kerosene
seller, Ibrahim Abubakar, said there is no kerosene in filling stations in the
state, even at the NNPC Mega station.
A Maiduguri resident, Mallam Modu
Hassan, said they have resorted to the use of charcoal, because it is the
cheapest means of cooking now. In Enugu State, people who spoke to New
Telegraph, expressed dismay over the situation, describing it as untold
hardship and punishment to the people.
Mrs. Alice Ugwuanyi, a housewife in
Enugu, stated that since the scarcity and high cost of kerosene, many have
resorted to gas and firewood as alternative to kerosene. At Conoil filling
station along Agbani Road, the kerosene product was sold at 200 per litre.
Last week, the product sold for N220
per litre in Abia State. Mr. Emmanuel Kalu Onuka, who lives in Ubakala, Umuahia
South Local Government Area, said that since the astronomical rise of the price
of kerosene, he has resorted to the use of firewood. He said he fetches
firewood from his farm.
“As long as it remains like that, we
will not use kerosene again,” Onuka told New Telegraph. Mrs. Charity Okorie
said she has reduced the quantity she normally buys for the family use. In Osun
State, no less than 70 per cent of the populace uses kerosene.
Since the price of a litre of
kerosene has moved from N100 to N250, most people have resorted to the use of
charcoal and firewood. In Delta, a litre of kerosene goes for N220. This has
forced residents to embrace the use of charcoal, sawdust and firewood.
Madam Gozie, a housewife in Okpanam
town in Oshimili North council area of the state, said she has since resorted
to the use of charcoal. “I have resigned to fate. I don’t want to border myself
with the problems of this country,” she said.
Report:
NAN
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