A major stakeholder group in the nation’s oil and gas sector; the Oil and Gas Suppliers of Nigeria (OGASON) ha s given reasons for the rising cost of kerosene.
An official of OGASON, Mr David Olakunle told Shipping Position Weekly that contrary to the assurance by the government that the recent bombing of the Atlas Cove jetty will not adversely affect supplies and prices of petroleum products in the affected parts of the country, the soaring price of kerosene is attributable to the bombing.
Since the attack for which the militant group; the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), the pump price of kerosene has gone up from the official N52 per litre to as high as N100 in Lagos and most South western states.
Mr. Olakunle confirmed that some depots have decided to take advantage of the incident by hoarding the product which is a must-have in homes across Nigeria.
According to him, the unscrupulous depot owners do this because they know that the product is generally always on demand and that it only comes in through the private jetties, hence, they hike the price.
Confirming that the price hike is illegal, the OGASON top man acknowledged that “we know that these increases are not legal because it was not announced by the PPRA which is supposed to be in charge of pricing, so it clearly shows that the increase is illegal”.
The scribe of the association which is also an affiliate the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers Union (NUPENG) however assured that “the increase in price can and will only last for sometime because, as soon as the Atlas cove begins full operations, everything will come back to normal”.
He also maintained that the move to withdraw members of the union from the affected facility was a necessity so as not to be accused of pilfering on the spilled oil and also that it was as a form of protest to the federal government to increase security level at the place.
He however confirmed that the NUPENG members have since returned back to the place for normal operations.
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