For over two months, Nigeria has been hit by acute shortage of Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK). Surprisingly, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) claimed that the refineries in the country are now producing 4.6 million litres of kerosene daily.
The Chief Operating Officer of the refineries, Mr. Anibor Kragha, who gave the figure while making a presentation before the Senate Committee on Petroleum Downstream insisted that the Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited (PHRC), Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC) and the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC) are all back on stream.
Besides, he said plans were also in the pipeline for the refineries to commence the production of Aviation Turbine Kerosene otherwise known as Jet A1 fuel.
He assured the committee that the NNPC would leave no stone unturned to ensure that petroleum products including Premium Motor Spirit otherwise known as petrol are made available in every nook and cranny of the country.
However, the latest monthly financial and operations report of the NNPC showed that the last time the corporation imported kerosene was in September 2016.
With a volume of 33,662,899.42 litres, the report for the month of November, also indicated that the total production from the three refineries for the over 170 million Nigerians was a paltry 42,313,316 as against 84,153,826 last October.
In its reaction, the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) said there was no drop of kerosene in both private and NNPC depots in Lagos.
National Chairman of Surface Tank Kerosene Peddlers (SUTAKEP) branch of NUPENG, Rotimi Benjamin, recently told newsmen in Lagos that the product was last brought to the depot on December 27, 2016.
Although the NNPC claimed the refineries are all back on stream, their poor performance and the inconsistent import trend to augment local production largely accounts for the scarcity of the product.
The unprecedented high exchange rate has also discouraged a lot of marketers who were hitherto importing kerosene.
These are some of the reasons the scarcity of the product is being witnessed in the country. At the moment, the price of kerosene is at least N300 per litre. It is even higher in some places as there is no uniformity in the price owing to scarcity.
Most filling stations in different parts of the country do not have the product and where they are available, dealers and retailers are taking advantage of the situation to sell at exorbitant prices. As a result, many homes and even restaurants have resorted to use of firewood for cooking.
While some are aware of the health hazard this can constitute, many are not aware of the health implication of using firewood and its effects on the ecosystem.
Firewood is primarily sourced from felled trees. Trees are planted for preservation of the ecosystem and maintenance of good balance.
Over the years, environmental scientists have expressed concern over deforestation by indiscriminate felling of trees as firewood.
They assert that deforestation causes distortion or imbalance in the ecosystem and should be discouraged. In most cases, when trees are felled, people do not care to replace them despite the regular campaign that for every tree fell, four should be planted as replacement.
It has been established that in one year, an acre of mature tree can provide enough oxygen for 18 people.
More worrisome is a report by the Ministry of Environment in December 2013, which stated that no fewer than 98,000 Nigerian women die annually from smoke inhaled during cooking with firewood.
Mrs. Bahijjahtu Abubakar, an official of the ministry, who gave the worrisome figure at the 4th Annual Nigeria Renewable Energy Day in Abuja, said the death from the sector contributed 10 per cent of the global annual death based on a study carried out by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
“If a woman cooks breakfast, lunch and dinner with firewood, it is equivalent to smoking between three and 20 packets of cigarette a day.
The death from this sector contributes to 10 per cent of global annual death and it is bigger than tuberculosis, HIV and AIDS and malaria combined, and it is only killing women,” Abubakar said.
This is an indication that there is so much energy poverty in Nigeria, an indication that Nigerians are suffering in the midst of abundant energy resources.
The contribution of Nigeria to the global annual death rate should be a concern for the government especially because such death is avoidable.
The invitation extended to the senators by the NNPC for a facility tour of the refineries is a welcome development.
The lawmakers owe Nigerians a duty to verify the veracity of the NNPC’s claims of 4.6 million litres daily kerosene production.
They should also facilitate actions that will genuinely guarantee funding and revival of the ailing refineries as a way of guaranteeing their optimal performance.
