High Cost of Kerosene

[Richard Akindele]

THE hike in the price of kerosene from its approved price of N54 per litre to N125 per litre is creating problems for millions of Nigerians who depend on the product for cooking. The price hike was preceded by the usual scarcity to the detriment of the users of the product.

Scarcity of the product is not new, it is just ignored. In one of his televised monthly media chats, President Olusegun Obasanjo was surprised at the high price of kerosene when a caller drew his attention to it and promised to do something. Kerosene at the time was selling at N75 per litre. A presidential fiat that pegged the price at N54 per litre did not work. The product was not available and there was a consistent increase in domestic and industrial use. The Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Commission, Dr. Oluwole Oluleye, in a statement told Nigerians that kerosene was not for the poor.

It has been proven right!

Kerosene, one of the hundreds of by-products from crude oil, can be provided at an affordable price to the people if the government realises the implications of the situation. An estimated 90 per cent of homes in Nigeria use the product for domestic purposes, ranging from cooking to individual electrification efforts, following the well-known record of the nation's electricity supply.

Most homes of the affluents and privileged class rely on gas and electricity for their cooking. But these two items are beyond the reach of poor Nigerians who barely have five hours of electricity daily nor could afford gas cookers from their meagre earnings. At the current price of N2,100 for a 12.5kg cylinder of cooking gas, kerosene is the last resort for majority, including the huge rural population.

These people are sentenced to perpetual abuses from major marketers whose utmost objective is to maximise profit at the expense of the ordinary people. Government, on its part, is aloft, the problem does not demand any national urgency. What are the options available to the people when they face rejection and abandonment from their government? They resort to their own devices to survive.

One of the tactics is the resort to firewood. The damage to the environment that the felling of trees to meet fuel needs would create normally would not be felt for years to come. However, it must be noted that while this denuding of the forests would be going on, including areas that are already under desertification, there is no programme to replace the trees that are felled. Has government thought of the consequences of this neglect of the environment?

A concern for the people and their environment would have ensured that government does not address this situation with words as it has done over the years.

Explanations about port congestions and cost of importing the product do not exonerate the government for its failure to address an important national issue.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) promised to inject 20 million litres into Lagos market alone this week, but this is a temporary measure that would not fully address the problem.

Vanguard.