For some years now, kerosene scarcity has been a recurring issue in Nigeria, despite the fact that the product is produced in the country. Although the official price is put at N50 a litre but the end user, mostly the common man still buys it at between N200 and N250 from the black market. Most filling stations do not have the product. A gallon of kerosene is sold for N800 in some of the retail outlets.Apart from Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC mega stations located in Dei-Dei and Zuba, other petrol stations, especially those belonging to the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, MOMAN, visited by this magazine did not have the product. At Oando filling station in Kubwa, a suburb of Abuja, attendants were given a directive not to attend to people who were on queue. A senior sales representative at the station, Philip Uga told this magazine that they have not received supply in the past three months. “Our truck has been at the depot in the past three months and there has been no supply of kerosene. The kerosene  you see being sold is bought from the black market at an exorbitant price. That is why the burden is passed to the consumer at a high price,” he explained.The recent scarcity of kerosene is blamed on the planned withdrawal of fuel subsidy from January next year by the federal government. A member of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, Alhaji Sadiq Mustapher said that the scarcity and high price is a ploy by the government to create artificial scarcity of the product. He said no depot is loading the product “and the NNPC is not looking at the direction of kerosene scarcity now,” and said the quantity of kerosene being imported at the moment was very low. “It could be a ploy by the government to cause artificial scarcity, so that it would be able to implement its policy of fuel subsidy removal,” he added.When the minister of petroleum resources, Mrs. Dezieni Allison-Madueke appeared before the House of Representatives in June this year, she blamed the scarcity and high cost of the product on the middlemen and sharp practices by marketers. According to the minister, government spends about N1 trillion in subsidising petroleum products, including kerosene, consumed locally in the country, and said the middlemen took advantage of the subsidy on petroleum products, to buy kerosene at cheaper rates in Nigeria, only to smuggle the product to neighboring countries in a bid to make more profit.  The minister put the daily domestic consumption of kerosene at eight million litres, whereas the NNPC supplies 11 million litres. “Where is the kerosene? The kerosene has been diverted; the kerosene is being hoarded and moved illegally into other countries. Obviously, we are paying subsidies for other countries because some people are taking advantage of the low prices here,” Mrs. Allison Madueke argued.But the public relation officer of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, Bright Ochekwa faulted the claim. Ochekwa said the figures quoted by the minister were as at the last three to four years. He recalled that few years back when there was acute scarcity of petrol, a committee set up by the National Assembly, which investigated the matter, recommended raising the daily supply from 25 million litres to 35 million. “When the PMS supply was increased to 35 million litres, the problem was solved. I believe that if we do to DPK supply, what we did in the case of PMS, the problem will be solved. What we are facing now is that supply is not meeting demand; even if there is diversion, it is insignificant. IPMAN is not involved in hoarding and we do not divert products.” He advised for creation of awareness on the use of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, which will provide alternative for the use of kerosene, and described as untrue, the notion that the cylinder is a bomb waiting to explode. “The estimated LPG consumption is about 100,000 metric tonnes per annum, with a per capita consumption of 0.5kg, even though available LGP in the country is said to be about  five million metric tonnes per annum. Yet it is a known fact that LGP has well established advantages over such alternatives as firewood, kerosene, electricity or charcoal. In respect of health, safety and the environment, it is the best option compared to the listed alternative,” he maintained. He listed countries like Indonesia and Brazil, as consuming LPG higher than Nigeria.

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