The latest statistics from National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) have shown that contrary to claims by the government that prices of essential petroleum products including Kerosene and cooking gas are within reach to Nigerians, the reverse is the case.
Already, a litre of Kerosene has reached N319.44 in Plateau State, N316.67 in Nassarawa and N315.28 in Bayelsa as against N50 Nigerians was told by the government.
However, the varying prices are all higher than the average price per litre of N288.85, which the product was sold in January.
NBS revealed that the average price per gallon paid by consumers for kerosene increased from N1,024.83 in January to N1,030.33 in February 2018 from.
Also, the average price for the refilling of a 5kg cylinder for Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) at N2,155.97, representing a decrease 1.56 per cent from the N2,190.07 it recorded in January 2018.
States with the highest average price for the refilling of a 5kg cylinder of Cooking Gas were Borno, N2500.00; Yobe, N2500.00; and Anambra, N2364.29.
States with the lowest average price for the refilling of a 5kg cylinder of Cooking Gas were Abuja, Nl,820.00; Ebonyi, N 1,860.00; and Ekiti, N 1,950.00.
Average price for the refilling of a 12.5kg cylinder cooking gas increased from N4,327.89 in January 2018 to N4333.27 in February 2018.
However, states with the highest average price for the refilling of a 12.5kg cylinder cooking gas were Akwa Ibom, N5,000.00; Benue, N5,000.00 and Kogi, N4,816.67.
States with the lowest average price for the refilling of a 12.5kg cylinder a cooking gas were Oyo, N3871.05; Ogun, N3788.89; and Lagos, N3,727.78.
Sales data from NNPC showed that a total of 1.65 billion litres of white products were distributed and sold by PPMC in the month of December 2017 compared with 996.97 million litres in the month of November 2017.
“This comprised of 1.47 billion litres of PMS, 50.06 million litres of Kerosene and 123.42 million litres of Diesel. Total sale of white products for the period January to December 2017 stood at 15.26 billion litres, PMS amounted to 13.31 billion litres and accounts for 87.25 per cent, while total special product for the month of December 2017 was 117.84 million litres, comprising of 67.08 million litres of LPFO and other special products of 50.76 million litres”.
In his response to why Nigerians still pay more to access household petroleum products, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and Board Chairman, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, said what the country needed now is to have its refineries working, noting that it makes better business sense to add value to crude oil than sell the commodity raw.
However, he was silent on why refineries failed to work after years of appropriation for their repairs.
Currently, the NNPC GMD, Dr. Maikanti Baru said the Corporation is scouting for investors willing to put down money (about $1.8bn) for the repairs of the refineries so as to end importation.