Chineme Okafor in Abuja
The latest ‘Petroleum Products Days Sufficiency’ report from the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) has disclosed that the volume of household kerosene available in Nigeria would last for only 6.3 days.
This is just as the country is expected to host the Head of International Secretariat of the global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), Mr. Mark Robinson, who arrives tomorrow on a working visit that would see him hold meetings on reforms in the country’s extractive sectors.
Obtained yesterday by THISDAY, the PPPRA report profiled the closing stock of petroleum products in Nigeria for the day November 21, 2019, and showed that as at that day, the country had 8,128,761 litres of kerosene in its land and marine stocks.
It also disclosed that on the same day, the country had up to 2,668,918,110 litres of petrol that will last for 47.83 days; 514,937,416 litres of diesel expected to last for 37.05 days and Aviation Turbine Kerosene (ATK) of 180,735,444 litres to last for 70.33 days.
Although the federal government has scrapped subsidy on kerosene with the intention to encourage use of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by households, a good number of Nigerians still rely on kerosene as their energy source, especially for cooking.
To buttress the sustained use of kerosene by Nigerians, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) stated in its October 2019 price watch for household kerosene, that the average price per litre paid by consumers for kerosene increased by 1.97 per cent month-on-month and by 2.90 per cent year-on-year to N324.72 in October 2019 from N318.46 in September 2019.
NBS explained that states with the highest average price per litre of kerosene were Enugu – N368.14, Imo – N357.68, and Plateau – N354.17, while states with the lowest average price per litre of kerosene were Abuja – N253, Nasarawa – N265.61 and Kwara – N270.83.
It added that states with the highest average price per gallon of kerosene were Gombe – N1,371.43, Borno – N1,350.00 and Jigawa – N1,315.38.
Meanwhile, a statement from the Director of Communications and Advocacy at the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Dr. Ogbonnanya Orji, stated that while in Nigeria, Robinson will access the level and impacts of EITI implementation in the country.
Orji noted that the visit was also designed to review progress so far made by Nigeria in the implementation of EITI standards as part of the overall on-going reforms agenda in Nigeria’s oil, gas and mining sector.
Robinson, he explained, would meet with the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed; the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mr. Olamilekan Adegbite, as well as the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari.
“He will also meet with the Executive Secretary, the Board, management and staff of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), the domestic branch of the global organisation.
“The EITI chief will also hold interactive session with the civil society/media and later address a press conference in Abuja before proceeding to Lagos in continuation of his visit. While in Lagos, he will meet with the management of Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), as well as oil and gas companies under the platform of NEITI-Companies Forum,” the statement added.
