Following the recurring scarcity of kerosene in the country as a result of the unrest going on in the oil producing countries in Africa, minister of petroleum resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke has said that the federal government has budgeted the sum of N1 trillion naira as subsidy on kerosene alone in year 2011.
Speaking on a monitored radio program in Lagos last week, the minister explained that the subsidy is to cushion the negative effect that the biting scarcity of kerosene is currently having on the end users of the product.
Following the recurring scarcity of kerosene in the country as a result of the unrest going on in the oil producing countries in Africa, minister of petroleum resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke has said that the federal government has budgeted the sum of N1 trillion naira as subsidy on kerosene alone in year 2011.
Speaking on a monitored radio program in Lagos last week, the minister explained that the subsidy is to cushion the negative effect that the biting scarcity of kerosene is currently having on the end users of the product.
Shipping Position Weekly confirmed that the kerosene scarcity is as a result of the high prices of crude oil at the international market. Diezani Alison have however alleged that the subsidies that are being paid by the government is not being felt by the buyers of the product but that it is the middle men that end up enjoying the money.
“We give the kerosene out to the marketers on a subsidized price which should at least affect the end price that the consumers buy it, but you find out that they collect the money and give it out at a different prize which is still way too high” he said.
She however admitted that government cannot penalize the operators directly but that it can use the track record of such in giving out another round of allocation.
Meanwhile oil marketers operating in the country have raised alarm over the kerosene scarcity currently being experienced across the country, saying that the household product is not enough to meet the nation’s demand.
Olumide Ogunmade, chairman of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) in the South West, last week faulted claims by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) that there was sufficient kerosene in circulation; according to him this is not true.
Ogumaded said that marketers can not import kerosene for now because of the high cost of crude oil at the international market and that it is only the NNPC that could import sufficient kerosene to meet nationwide demand.
He however said that kerosene scarcity would persist in the country for as long as the high prices of crude oil in the international market remained because there was no way the NNPC could pay for the product when it was buying it at international prices and be forced to sell at a regulated price.
“If there is scarcity, it means NNPC is not importing enough. It would have been easier for marketers to import if kerosene business was deregulated,” he said.
Shipping Position Weekly findings last week however revealed that very few filling stations had kerosene which they sold for between N128 and N135 per liter instead of the official N50 price. It was also gathered that tank farms located in Apapa, Ejigbo and Mosinmi depots currently do not have the product as they said they were awaiting supply from the NNPC.
Discussion about this post