The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has attributed the increased in the price of household Kerosene in the country to the pressure of demand and supply.
The NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Ndu Ughamadu, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja that the price of the product had been deregulated.
“The point remains that the prices of the kerosene is deregulated.
“It is not as controlled with reference to Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) known as Petrol, that is why we see the prices moving up and down.
“The important thing is that the trend you are seeing there had to do with supply and demand. The more the demand, the higher the price locally,’’ he said
Mr Ughamadu said that the NNPC remained the sole importer of the product and had been augmenting it with the skeletal production from the refineries.
He reiterated the commitment of the corporation to the adequate supply of petroleum products for Nigerians.
“The corporation is doing everything to ensure that we import more volumes of kerosene because, we believe that this is the energy source that the low-income earners in the country use,’’ he added
A check by NAN in some outskirt of the Federal Capital Territory indicated that the price of Kerosene ranged between N400 and N500 per litre.
NAN reports that most filling stations along the Kubwa express road, Dutse, and Zuba hardly sell the product.
Most of the consumers buy the products from the roadside.
At Dutse market, the price was N400 per litre while within Kubwa it is sold between N450 and N500 per litre.
Mrs Halima Saidu, a seller at Kubwa village market, told NAN that she buys from filling stations at different prices.
