The high price of the fuel crisis in the country is still ongoing. Of recent, kerosene has spiked in price to N600 per litre. At such an exorbitant price, it has become increasingly difficult for households that solely depend on the product for cooking.

Nigerians call on the government as the fuel crisis worsens.

The high price of Kerosene in the country has made average Nigerians resort to other alternatives to survive.  Some people already have settled for charcoal and even firewood to cook as they can no longer afford to buy Kerosene.

The high price of Kerosene has hit major cities like Abuja, Lagos, Ogun, Osun, Oyo, Enugu, Kano, Akwa Ibom, Abia, and Kaduna states.

Speaking on the high price of Kerosene scarcity and why the product had increased from 200 Naira per litre to N600 a marketer responded, “The shutdown of refineries that produce DPK through which the market is augmented, is another major problem.

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.

Without a doubt, the issue of the fuel crisis in the country can be ascribed to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPC,  as the organisation did not produce white product PMS or DPK for the past twelve months.

Equally of concern is the recent electricity failure Nigerians have been grappling with of late. The Association of Power Generation Companies, commented on the power generation situation, stating, “poor payment to the Generation Companies, is the cause of low generation to the grid”.

In a new development, the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, in its National Household Kerosene Price Watch, for February, reported, “The average price per liter of Household Kerosene, HHK, paid by consumers in February 2022 stood at 437.11 in January 2022, showing an increase of 3.10 percent on month-on-month. “On a year-on-year comparison, the average price increased by 26.66 percent from 355.80 in February 2021.”

However, the Federal government has stated it was going to impose strict sanctions on depot owners caught selling petroleum products far from the approved ex-depot prices. The Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, however, noted that the ongoing energy crisis in the country would soon be a thing of the past.

“We are aware, just like President Muhammadu Buhari said in a statement, that there are some depot owners who are taking advantage of the situation by increasing the ex-depot price.

I can assure you that there will be sanctions for any of those depots that continue to increase the ex-depot price as approved. We are going to deal decisively with anyone who tries to take advantage of this situation”.