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NNPC still sells kerosene at N55 per litre
Oluyinka Akintunde, Abuja
Forty-eight hours after President Olusegun Obasanjo directed that the price of kerosene should be reduced, as part of the palliatives for the increase in the pump prices of fuel, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation mega station in Abuja on Sunday sold the product at N55 per litre to customers.
The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency had on September 22 raised the prices of petroleum products to between N54 and N55 per litre of petrol, N58 per litre of diesel and N60 per litre of kerosene.
Despite the increase in kerosene price, only a handful of fuel marketers took delivery of kerosene and sold at N60 per litre and above while the NNPC mega stations sold at N55 per litre.
President Obasanjo, in a national broadcast on Friday, had ordered the reduction in the price of kerosene, saying, �It is absolutely unacceptable that kerosene, used by most Nigerians, should cost more than petrol.�
Investigations carried out by our correspondent on Sunday showed that that the pump price of kerosene at the NNPC mega station read N55 per litre.
Users of the product, who had formed a long stretch of queue at the mega station, complained that they were still being forced to buy at the station�s new price of N55 per litre.
The NNPC officials at the mega station however declined to speak to our correspondent, who observed that the corporation took delivery of some products, including petrol and kerosene.
Apart from the NNPC station, no other retail fuel outlet within the FCT and environs sold kerosene to customers as the fuel attendants claimed that they have no stock of kerosene.
Some of fuel stations visited by our correspondent to ascertain their compliance with the directive on the kerosene price included: Total, Area 3, Garki; African Petroleum and Oando in Wuse; Conoil, Area 10, Garki; Total and Conoil, Central Area; African Petroleum in Maitama; Total in Zone, Wuse; Total in A.Y.A and Agip in Kubwa.
None of the above stations sold kerosene to customers.
The president had on Friday ordered the NNPC to ensure immediate implementation of the reduction of kerosene price as he noted that his administration was prepared to ensure that the prices were within the reach or ordinary Nigerians.
Though the he did not state what the new price should be, the Chairman of the Palliatives Committee and Deputy Senate President, Senator Ibrahim Mantu, on Friday, announced that the president had approved a N10 reduction in price of kerosene.
Meanwhile, fuel marketers sold petrol between N53 and N54.50 per litre in the FCT just two days to the planned nationwide strike called by the Nigeria Labour Congress.
Our correspondent observed that NNPC mega station sold petrol at N52 per litre; Agip, Kubwa, sold at N53 per litre; while both AP and Oando in Zone 1, Wuse sold at N54.30 and N54.50 per litre, respectively.
Those stations that sold at N54 per litre included: Total, Area 3, Garki; Conoil, Area 10, Garki; Total and Conoil, Central Area; African Petroleum in Maitama; Total in Zone 6, Wuse and Total in A.Y.A.
The PUNCH, Monday, November 15, 2004
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