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By Tessy Igomu
In recent weeks, cooking, for Mama Tobi, a mother of four, has become an unpleasant, absolutely unappealing endeavour.
Even as her eyes turned red and glistened with tears, the housewife tried to ward off smoke with her right hand that was already covered in soot. She coughed intermittently, as she tried to blow air to kindle a bigger fire for her cooking.
“For the past 20 minutes, I have been trying to ignite this fire to cook. Since I can no longer afford kerosene, I have been making use of newspapers and this has been very difficult. The newspaper always causes serious smoke; it cannot easily start fire without one blowing air into the charcoal pot. I am already tired, even when I have not started cooking,” she said in despair.
Mama Tobi’s helplessness mirrors the plight of several Nigerians, especially women, as the country grapples with an intense energy crisis.
Even as Nigerians battle with the depressing economy, the prices of kerosene and cooking gas, with which they cook their daily meals, are spiralling out of their reach.
Scarce and expensive
In most parts of the country, the prices of the two commodities have risen by over 140 per cent, thus making it almost impossible for most households to buy.
Kerosene presently sells at N300 per litre, while the 12.5kg cylinder of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), popularly called cooking gas, now costsN4, 000, as against N2, 300.
From east to west, from north to south, the long queue of consumers, waiting endlessly at filling stations to buy kerosene paints a picture of anguish. At the moment, most retail stations in the country have run out of kerosene. Where the product is available, a four-litre keg sells for N1200.
Painful deregulation
For several years, officially, kerosene had sold for N50 per litre until the federal government officially increased the price to N83 per litre. For a people that had for long contended with kerosene scarcity, they were used to queuing for long hours and even sleeping at the few retail stations that had the commodity. But the cutthroat price of N83 was akin to forcing them to swallow bile.
Despite complaining bitterly about the development, consumers were left with no choice than to gradually adapt to the situation by squeezing out as much as N200 for a litre in filling stations that had the commodity. But, as the country undergoes serious economic crisis, many Nigerians now see the new price regime as a sudden death sentence.
Most housewives and other users of the product can understand how a commodity that remains the lifeline of the masses would get so scarce and unaffordable. Low-income earners are also struggling to come to terms with the dilemma, even as no one is sure if the price of kerosene would ever be reviewed downwards.
The hike in the price of kerosene came at a time when the global price of crude oil had dropped to a record low, with the price of petroleum products, such as kerosene, fuel and diesel, among others, dropping significantly in many oil-producing nations.
Many homes that can’t afford the commodity are now forced to make do with firewood and charcoal, despite the inconvenience associated with their use.
Many people are worried that some black marketers might catch in on the situation to sell adulterated kerosene to unsuspecting consumers in order to make more profit. The consequences of such acts are dire. Many are those that have been dispatched to their early graves in the most gruesome manner, with property worth millions of naira destroyed by inferno.
Factors responsible
Many factors like inadequate storage facilities at the jetties, diversion of dual purposes kerosene (DPK) for conversion to aviation turbine kerosene (ATK), and the adulteration of kerosene with diesel (to be sold as pure diesel) have been blamed for the scarcity of kerosene.
According to reports, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) remains the only importer of kerosene. At the moment, kerosene supply through the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC), an NNPC subsidiary, has reduced in recent weeks, with only one depot out of about 36 in Apapa loading kerosene.
Critics have noted that the NNPC had, perhaps, not been importing enough or that the corporation might lack the capacity to import sufficiently to meet the nation’s demand.
The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) had, in January, increased the price of household kerosene from N50 to N83 per litre. The agency stated that the price applied only to NNPC outlets. But none of the NNPC retail outlets sold kerosene at the approved price of N83 per litre in the first and second quarter that ended on June 30.
Strong indications also emerged that despite the liberalisation of the fuels markets, many marketers were yet to start importing kerosene as they continued to focus on the premium motor spirit, popularly known as petrol.
As the product remains unavailable at many filling stations, roadside vendors have cashed in to sell a litre for as much as N400.
Kerosene diversion for aviation use
The diversion of kerosene for aviation use remains one factor said to be responsible for the constant scarcity. Coincidentally, there’s little difference between the kerosene used to satisfy household needs and the JET A1 fuel used for aircraft.
According to investigations, the readiness of those in the aviation industry to pay much higher than household consumers made it a perfect diversion zone due to the huge turnover.
An oil giant plagued by scarcity
As a country, Nigeria has been plagued by years of kerosene scarcity, despite being one of the world’s major oil producing countries. And in all of these years, the masses have been made to believe that the skyrocketing price of the scarce commodity was a result of the global economic meltdown.
As the effects of kerosene scarcity bite harder on the masses, reprieve seems to be a forlorn dream, as the federal government has shown little commitment to combating the problem. And Nigerians are miffed that despite being blessed with crude from which kerosene is produced, the country still suffers.
According to reports, the national daily demand of kerosene is estimated to be between eight and ten million litres. But this quantity cannot be made available by the dysfunctional refineries in the county, according to economists
The refineries have been said to be meeting only 35 per cent local consumption, while the remaining 65 per cent is sourced abroad.
In the absence of refineries and the recent devastation of existing flow stations by militants in the Niger Delta region, Nigerians are being inflicted with untold hardship.
Alleged diversion of cooking gas
Nigeria, according to statistics from the Nigeria Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association (LPGA), currently consumes 385,000 metric tonnes of cooking gas per annum, up from the 2013 consumption of 250,000, which was considered too low when compared with that of Ghana, Senegal, Cameroun and Kenya.
Critics have expressed dismay over how Liquefied Natural Gas, produced in the country, could become scarce and expensive.
Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Association of LPG Marketers (NALPGAM), Mr. Bassey Essien blamed the development on alleged diversion. He disclosed that officials of the Marine Transportation Department of the PPMC, in connivance with a private gas terminal, were frustrating the efforts of gas marketers to access to cheap products.
Warning against further increase in the price of gas, Essien told Daily Sun that the disruption in the LPG supply chain had led to the gradual rise of 20 metric tonne of gas from N2.4 million to N4.3 million within a week.
He explained that, rather than vessels berthing and discharging at the PPMC terminal, the officials deliberately created bottlenecks that made it extremely impossible for vessels to discharge. He said the vessels were forced to use the facilities of the private terminal, which in turn deliberately hiked prices.
“That is why we are using the opportunity to alert the concerned authorities to the effect of this unpatriotic trend because if we keep quiet, the price may hit N4 million for 20 metric tonnes,” he said.
The way out
Executive Vice Chairman of Techno Oil Limited, Mrs. Nkechi Obi, lamented that if the LPG challenge was not urgently addressed, the gains achieved over the years might be eroded.
She, however, noted that it was disheartening that Nigeria ranked the lowest in the per capita usage of LP, and urged the government to develop a local pricing template for gas as against the current international pricing regime.
Executive Director, Supply and Distribution, PPMC, Mr. Justin Ezeala, while blaming the current scarcity of cooking gas on obsolete state of the jetties, disclosed that most of the jetties were over 40 years old and not in tune with modern technology.
Nigerians have, however, called for more proactive steps.
President of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association, Mr. Dayo Adesina said more terminals be built for vessels to berth instead of having a single terminal that could not accommodate the quantum of gas coming in.
Chairman of Liquefied Petroleum Gas retailers (LPGAR) branch of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Mr. Michael Imudu, expressed similar concern.
But as the debate rages, consumers of cooking gas and kerosene across the country are wondering if the prices of the commodities would ever be reduced.
