Kerosene Becoming Unaffordable for Nigeria’s Poor as Price Soars by 80.7% in Seven Months
•Enugu leads other states with N1,003.68 per litre
Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
With the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) fully halting the production and importation of Household Kerosene (HHK) mostly consumed by the country’s poor, the price of the product has skyrocketed by 80.7 per cent in the last seven months.
A THISDAY analysis of the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) between January and July this year, showed that where it is available, the price of a litre of kerosene has increased from N437 in January to N790 in July.
However, compared to June, the data indicated that the average retail price per litre of kerosene paid by consumers in July 2022, increased by 3.68 per cent compared to N761.69 recorded a month earlier.
Nigeria, like most parts of the world has been dealing with soaring energy prices, including diesel, jet-A1 fuel, gas, among others, except petrol which is still tightly regulated in the country.
The development has now impacted most of the highly vulnerable homes in the country, especially those in rural communities, who depend on kerosene as a major source of fuel for cooking.
In the last couple of years, the NNPCL has completely stopped the importation of kerosene and has not able to produce any drop within the country since all its refineries are currently non-functional.
In February 2022, the average retail price per litre of kerosene, according to the figures, stood at N450.66 per litre, from N437.11 in January 2022, showing an increase of 3.10 percent on month-on-month, but has now hit about 80.7 per cent since that time.
But on a year-on-year basis, the average retail price per litre of the product rose by 98.76 per cent from N397.34 in July 2021.
On state profile analysis, the highest average price per litre in July 2022 was recorded in Enugu with N1,003.68, followed by Ekiti with N989.58 and Osun with N949.12.
On the other hand, the lowest price was recorded in Bayelsa with N643.06, followed by Benue with N654.76 and Rivers with N655.24.
In addition, analysis by zone showed that the South-west recorded the highest average retail price per litre of kerosene with N900.90, followed by the South-east with N892.40 and North-central with N761.92, while the South-south recorded the lowest with N727.07.
It further showed that the retail price per gallon of kerosene paid by consumers in July 2022 was N2,886.41, indicating an increase of 7.98 per cent from N2,673.04 in June 2022. “On a year-on-year basis, this increased by 121.60 per cent from N1,302.56 in July 2021,” it stated.
On ‘state’ profile analysis, Abuja recorded the highest average retail price per gallon of kerosene with N3,600.00, followed by Enugu with N3,500.75 and Ekiti with N3,450.00.
On the other hand, Zamfara recorded the lowest price with N2,430.57, followed by Borno and Gombe with N2,500.00 and N2,530.00 respectively.
Analysis by zone showed that the South-west recorded the highest average retail price per gallon of kerosene with N3,186.93, followed by the South-east and North-central with N3,130.76 and N2,924.73 respectively, while the North-east recorded the lowest with N2,597.04.
On the price of diesel, the NBS stated noted that the average paid by consumers in July 2022 stood at N774.38 per litre, an increase of 208.74 per cent from N250.82 per litre recorded in the corresponding month of the previous year. On a month-on-month basis, this increased by 5.53 per cent from N733.78 per litre reported in June 2022.
“On state profile analysis, the highest average price of the product in July 2022 was recorded in Plateau with N866.00, followed by Oyo with N860.00, and Ebonyi with N851.43.
“On the other hand, the lowest price was recorded in Yobe with N686.67, followed by Katsina with N695.00 and Gombe with N722.00.
“Furthermore, analysis by zone showed that the South-east had the highest price with N802.89, while the North-east recorded the lowest price with N747.72,” the NBS data stated.
