Govt directs depots to sell kerosene at N73.37k per litre

The nation may be enmeshed in another round of tension as the Federal Government has directed petroleum depots to sell the Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK) at N73.37k per litre from the initial price of N40.90k per litre.

At the former price of N40.90k per litre only Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) outlets sold at the recommended price of N50 .00. Most other filling stations sold at between N120.00 and N150.00
At the earlier Federal Government-pegged price of N50 per litre, the product had been scarce in circulation, prompting the marketers to indiscriminately hike the retail price to between N80 to N100 per litre.

The new directive has elicited criticism from the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) which said the price of kerosene should also be reduced just as the case with petrol because they are products of the same crude oil, the price of which has crashed in the international market.

With this development, which means an increase of more than 70 per cent, marketers would inevitably, also hike the retail price of the product after adding the associated charges. This means that whether it is at NNPC outlets or at private filling stations, Nigerians would pay more for kerosene.

The new memo circulated to petroleum depots at the weekend enjoined them to comply with the new ex- depot price of N73.37k per litre, although it does not detail the pump price.

The memo, dated January 4th, 2016 and signed by L.N.S Madubuike, on behalf of the Managing Director, Pipeline Product Marketing Company (PPMC), Mrs. Esther Nnamdi-Ogbue, reads in part: “This is to inform depots that with effect from January 1st, 2016, ex-depot price of DPK is N73.37k. Oil marketers are directed to pay the new price for their lifting.”

The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) is yet to decide any effective kerosene template, as it left the column open (Update coming) as at yesterday. This has been like that since the beginning of this year.

The General Secretary of NLC, Dr. Peter Ozo- Eson, said: “Kerosene is the energy of a common man, and any increase in the price of kerosene automatically translates into imposing hardship on the masses, and the government did not promise them hardship.
“This further reinforces the point we have been making that this game change being played in the pricing of the petroleum products is not a temporary thing and it will lead to escalation in the costs and prices paid by Nigerians. Like we were pointing out in the case of petrol, if you examine the current downward trend of international crude oil prices, that has led to reduction in price of petrol, why should it not affect other petroleum products like kerosene and diesel? We need to check these holistically and government ought to please stop confusing Nigerians and should not impose hardship on the people,” he said.