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The price of petroleum products and cooking gas continue to soar in Nigeria in the month of February despite efforts to stablise it

|  By Anayo Ezugwu  |  Mar 27, 2017 @ 01:00 GMT  |

THE price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, fondly called cooking gas, has continued to soar. Also, the prices of other petroleum products such as fuel, kerosene and diesel have gone up in some states of the federation. According to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, NBS, report for the month of February, average price for refilling 5kg cylinder of gas across the country increased by 5.48 percent month-on-month and 45.59 percent year-on-year to N2,708.38 in February 2017, up from N2,567.56 in January 2017.

The report indicated that the highest average price for the 5kg cylinder was recorded in Edo State at N3,030.00, while Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Zamfara, Rivers and Kebbi States recorded N3,000 each and Delta had 2,984.62 average price for the product during the period. However, states with the lowest average price for 5kg cylinder were: Osun N2, 393.75; Oyo N2, 376.47 and Ondo N2, 372.73.

The continued upward movements in the price of cooking gas is attributed to the delay in the berthing of LPG product at the ports as priority was placed on petrol and aviation fuel. Dayo Adeshina, president, Nigeria Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association, NLPGA, in February blamed the increase in the price of the product on the delay in product berthing at the Port.

“By the time the vessels return to the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company Limited, PPMC terminal, vessels conveying petrol would have berthed. And because Premium Motor Spirit takes precedence over other products, the vessel would have to return to Bonny to load more products, in order not to incur demurrage charges. Unfortunately, in the process of this time lag, prices go up,” he explained.

Also, the NBS report noted that the effort of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, to massively import fuel and kerosene has not affected prices of the products across the country. Petrol still sells as high as N177 per litre in Yobe, while kerosene was astronomically high in Lagos at N455; Ogun, N425.44; and Ondo, 424.07 per litre, respectively.

Likewise, average price paid by consumers for Automotive Gas Oil, AGO, or diesel increased by 3.68 percent month-on-month and 68.74 percent year-on-year to N249.38 in February 2017 from N240.52 in January 2017.

According to the Bureau, the average price paid by consumers for petrol increased by 50.1 percent year-on-year and 0.7 percent month-on-month to N149.8 in February 2017 from N148.7 in January 2017. States with the highest average price for diesel were Adamawa, N280; Ebonyi, N272.5 and Cross River and Borno, 271, while those with the lowest were Oyo, N226.67; Bauchi, N226 and Osun, N220.

Similarly, states with the highest average price for petrol aside from Yobe, were Sokoto, N162.1 and Taraba, N161.7, while Lagos, N144.9; Delta, N144.8 and Osun N144.7 recorded the lowest, respectively. Kogi State had the highest average price in the North Central for February 2017, while Abuja had the least average price. While Yobe State recorded the highest average price in the North East during the month, Gombe and Adamawa States had the least prices. Sokoto State had the highest price in the North West and Kano the least.

It stated that Ebonyi State had the highest average price in the South East while Anambra had the least, just as Bayelsa State had the highest in the South South and Delta the lowest, where Ondo State recorded the highest price in the South West and Osun the least.

For kerosene, while Lagos, Ogun, and Ondo states recorded the highest prices respectively, states with the lowest were Sokoto, N295.24; Gombe, N291.67; and Katsina, N286.11. Among those with the highest price per gallon of kerosene were Yobe, N1,800.00; Kebbi, N1,687.50; and Akwa Ibom,1,636.36.

For the increase in prices of petrol and kerosene, Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, said in a press statement signed by Mordecai Ladan, its director, that the agency is aware of the unwholesome activities of some petroleum products marketers. He said such marketers indulged in hoarding and diversion of petroleum products at their various trucks holding terminals across the country while also manipulating their retail dispensing pumps at the filling stations to the detriment of unsuspecting buyers.

He, therefore, warned marketers to desist from such sharp practices and deliver products lifted from the depots to the designated filling stations within the stipulated one to three days grace period, depending on the point of discharge. Ladan assured the public that government maintains adequate daily sufficiency of products while intensifying efforts to revamp and enhance the performance of its local refineries to fill-in any identified gaps.

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