Abuja – Consumers of Household Kerosene in the Federal Capital Territory have raised concerns over the continued increase in the price of the product.
A News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) investigation in Abuja on Friday revealed that some filling stations sell the product at N140 per litre, while black marketers sell at N250 per litre.
NAN recalls that Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPRA) in January increased the official pump price of kerosene from N50 to N83 per litre.
Few marketers that sell the products dispense above the pump price and sell up to N140 per litre to customers.
Mrs Ngozi Nwabueze, a housewife, told NAN that filling stations along the Nyanya- Keffi road sell between N120 and N140 per litre.
“Well, the few occasions we see them sell at the petrol stations, we buy at either N120 or N140 per litre.
“I buy because if I buy from the market the price is between N200 and N250 per litre.
“So, I rush to buy from filling stations anytime I notice that they have because it is cheaper,’’ she said.
Also, Hanss Musa, a trader, said that government was not serious with the implementation of the official pump price of kerosene.
“I think it is because it is the poor people that use kerosene that is why they don’t monitor what is happening.
“If it is fuel now, you will see them come out and make sure that people sell at the official price; It is unfortunate that nobody cares for the poor in Nigeria,’’ he said
Musa, a resident of Apo, said that the product could be bought in few filling stations at N120 but at the black market, it sells between N180 and N220.
Mrs Aisha Abdullahi, a black marketer at the Kubwa Village Market, told NAN that the product cost between N200 and N250.
“ We sell it according to how we get the product. If we buy from the filling station at the price of N150, we sell N200,’’ she said.
According to her, government hardly makes the product available and that contributes to the high cost of the product.
“For me to get this product from NNPC, sometimes we spend days and these days. They hardly bring the product because this year, most of them that used to sell, have not sold the product,’’ she added .
The Department of Petroleum Resources refused to comment on the development. (NAN)
