6 October 2011, Sweetcrude, Lagos – The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has denied claims by marketers of inadequate kerosene in circulation.
Group General Manager (Public Affairs) in NNPC, Dr Levi Ajuonuma, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Wednesday in Lagos that complaints of scarcity of kerosene was baseless.
“The market is well supplied with kerosene and there is no need for members of the public to resort to panic buying. There is sufficient kerosene in circulation. The complaint by marketers is not true.
The complaint is meant to cause panic buying,” Ajuonuma said.
But some marketers told NAN that the 37 million litres of kerosene claimed to have been imported by NNPC in May had been exhausted.
They said the product would be scare in every part of the country if NNPC fails to import more kerosene in the next few weeks.
Officials of some unions, who pleaded anonymity, appealed to the Federal Government to allow marketers import kerosene.
They said importation of kerosene by marketers would check scarcity as it was the case with petrol.
The marketers said the price of kerosene was high because NNPC was selling to them above the regulated price.
They said the price of the product would drop drastically if marketers were allowed to import the product.
A check by NAN in some filling stations in Lagos showed that kerosene now sells for between N95 and N120 per litre
