PPMC Hikes Kerosene Price From N73 To N135 On Monday

The price in the price of Kerosene follows an alleged difficulty for private marketers to access foreign exchange at the official rate.

The forex crisis is said to have lead to PPMC becoming the sole importer of kerosene, there by leading to scarcity of the commodity.

There has been an alleged scam between the PPMC and Kerosene marketers, a national newspaper has learnt.

The PPMC, in a circular with reference PPMC/MKT/IBN/01/2016, alleged that Kerosene marketers had been asked to pay N73 per liter for the producr, but that the marketers go about to rip the the public off by selling at a rate of N180 to N250 per liter.

“We thought that things will change with the new administration. It actually changed initially but is now business-as-usual. It does not serve public interest to allocate kerosene at N73 or N135 per litre to some people at public expense and the beneficiaries will sell to the public at N180 and even N250 in some instances. This arrangement serves private pockets and something has to be done fast about it,” an official of the PPMC said.

The marketers however alleged lack of transparency in kerosene allocation, adding that marketers who end up getting products would have to pay a bribe of N1 million per truck of kerosene allocated.

“The whole kerosene thing is messy and that is why the major marketers do not want to get involved. The major marketers are not ready to give anybody bribe and sell above stipulated price. The whole thing improved when President Buhari came in initially. You will recall that Forte Oil became involved and it sold kerosene at N50 per litre to the public and it was publicised. But now, we are back to the status quo and the whole thing has become messy. The major marketers are not ready to play ball to get kerosene allocation,” said one of the major marketers.