A recent poll conducted by BusinessDay in
collaboration with NOI Polls, has revealed that 97 percent of Nigerians pay
more than the official subsidised price for Kerosene.
The cooking fuel is sold as high as 150
percent above the official N50 per litre price, in most locations in the
country, according to the poll.
The survey showed that up to 77 percent of
Nigerians are oblivious of the fact that the price of kerosene has been
subsidised by the government, resulting in buyers being exploited by dealers.
As few as only 23 percent of Nigerians are
aware that the official price of kerosene is set at N50 per litre.
Eighty-five percent of residents in the South
West are unaware of the official kerosene pump price; 69 percent of residents
in the south-south also said they were unaware.
In the North West, the amount of unaware
residents stood at 78 percent, while the figure of unaware citizens from the
South East was 81 percent.
The report showed that of the surveyed
population, only 3 percent bought kerosene at, or below the official price of
N50; while 97 percent of Nigerians paid well above the stipulated price.
Prices across the regions varied
significantly, but tended towards N150, a 200 percent jump from the official
price.
Nigerians living in the “south-east,
north-west, and north-east paid the highest average amount for the purchase of
kerosene when compared to others in the country”, the survey report said.
In the north-east, north-west and south-east,
kerosene is sold for as much as N155 per litre to buyers. In the north central,
kerosene is sold for N141 per litre.
In the south-south, it is sold for N131 per
litre; and in the south-west a litre of kerosene sell for N129 on average.
Kerosene is mostly used both for cooking and
for lighting.
Last year, details emerged from the Senate on
the illegal kerosene subsidy regime in Nigeria, showing that the Federal
Government and NNPC spent $4.43 billion on the subsidies that were not
appropriated for.
“The total kerosene (DPK) subsidy paid but
not appropriated for by the National Assembly in 2012 and 2013 was the sum
N685,909,513.076.02 (U$4.443 billion),” said the Senate committee on finance in
a report investigating the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) allegation of
unremitted $49.8 billion oil revenue by the NNPC.
The Senate began its investigation after the
former CBN governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi alleged a multibillion-dollar subsidy
racket inside the state-owned oil company NNPC, that has led to huge shortfalls
in oil earnings in Africa’s largest oil producer.
Nigeria produces 2.3 million barrels a day,
and funds 70 percent of its budget from crude oil sales
The Minister of Petroleum Resources Deziani
Alison Madueke testifying at the Senate on February 2014 defended the kerosene
subsidy, saying that “the subsidy was kept at N50 per litre for the benefit of
the Nigerian masses, even though the landing cost is N150 per litre.”
Sources tell Business-Day that the Kerosene
subsidy is still being maintained as a means of disbursing political favours to
connected individuals.
Kerosene is bought by the NNPC at N150 and
sold to oil marketers at N40-N50.
The FG allocated N91 billion ($478 million)
for Kerosene subsidy in the 2015 budget.
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