Nigerians groan as kerosene price soars

Posted by admin Headlines, Uncategorized Saturday, December 10th, 2011

By Angela Nkwocha & Ochonogor Michelle
Many indigent Nigerians who depend on kerosene to cook are worried that the product is being priced out of their reach.

For this reason, Christmas appears bleak. For instance, a litre of kerosene that sold for N95 in November in Lagos retail market now sells for N150.

The product is not available in most filling stations in the metropolis where kerosene price is regulated at N50 per litre.

Many consumers decried the hike in the price of kerosene.

“The average man in Nigeria today uses kerosene to cook. But if we go to the filling station, the product is not available. At the retailers place where they have it, the price, at N150 per litre, is beyond our reach. As at last month, the product sold for N95 per litre”, Mrs Chioma Obinna, a resident of Festac Town, Lagos said.

She added: “Nigeria is 51 years, yet we can’t tackle ordinary domestic issue. The problems we have in the country today are simply too much for the people.

“We have crude oil, yet we are importing petroleum products.

The government makes promises to the masses. At the end, they forget. Nigerians are tired.

When will this stop? Since independence, we are still about issues that should be in the past. Other countries like Ghana have gone far in technology but we are still here.”

Another concerned Nigerian, Mr. Atanlode Samuel Ayodele of Equipping the Saints, said government has disappointed the masses.

According to him, kerosine has become an issue, that he had to buy electric stove, yet the problem has not been solved because there is no electricity.

Ayodele believed some business-minded Nigerians see this as an opportunity to make money by arranging with the filling stations to buy up the kerosine and thus make it impossible for those that buy in small quantity to do so directly from the stations.

He asked government to look into the matter.

“Nigeria has grown beyond kerosine scarcity. Our leaders have travelled to other countries. They should learn the good thing that happen over there and when they come back use the experience to move the nation forward.”

-Vanguardwp_posts