Kerosene scarcity hits Awka

Residents of Awka, the Anambra capital
on Friday bemoaned the high prices of kerosene,
following the scarcity of the product. A market survey showed that the product was
being sold at between N110 and N140 per liter as
against the official pump price of N50 sold at the
NNPC Mega Station in Awka. Some attendants at independent filling stations
visited said the high cost of kerosene was due to
non-availability of the product to dealers. Mr Ifeanyi Nwamuo, an attendant with Total
Filling Station at Ukwuoji, Awka, said that the
product had not been supplied to the station in
many months. He said that the process of getting the product
was hard and that failed attempts to secure
supply had compelled their station to stop the
procurement of kerosene. Mrs Tina Nwaegbo, a private dealer also attributed
the high cost of the commodity in Awka to the
means of procurement and the large-scale bribery
before getting the product. Nwaegbo said that dealers needed to recover their
expenses after procurement and that it was the
end users who would the cost. She said that the Federal Government should
make the business policy easy so as to eliminate
third parties involved in kerosene procurement. The NNPC Mega Station Manager in Awka, Mrs
Ngozi Onyiliofor, said that the station had been
selling the product to the public at the approved
pump price of 50k per liter He colleague, Mrs Florence Nwaokoye, said that
the supply of the product to station had been
steady, compared to previous months when
kerosene was out of supply in Awka and
environs. She urged the government to ensure availability
of the product this season, to facilitate the
celebration of Christmas. (NAN)