Alison-Madueke, IPMAN sharply disagree on kerosene scarcity

Before the House of Representatives on Thursday, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria disagreed sharply with the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Deziani Alison-Madueke, about the cause of the kerosene scarcity in the country.

While Alison-Madueke, who returned to the Ministry of Petroleum Resources as a minister a week ago, put the daily domestic consumption of kerosene at eight million litres, the President of IPMAN, Alhaji Abdulkadir Aminu, faulted the claim and told the Representatives that the figure quoted by the minister was obsolete.


Alison-Madueke led the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr. Austin Oniwon, and officials of the Department of Petroleum Resources to meet the federal lawmakers who had summoned them to explain the shortage of the product in the country.

For the past three months, Nigerians have been experiencing an acute scarcity of Dual Purpose Kerosene that had defied all manner of government interventions. Housewives and children have been keeping vigil at filling stations to buy kerosene while those who cannot afford the high kerosene prices have simply resorted to firewood for their cooking.

Alison-Madueke said the NNPC supplied 11m litres in excess of the daily consumption figure of eight million litres and blamed the scarcity and high cost of the product on the menace of middlemen and sharp practices by marketers.

She claimed that middlemen had taken advantage of the subsidy on petroleum products to buy DPK cheaply in Nigeria only to smuggle the product to neighbouring countries in a bid to make more profit.

Alison-Madueke added that the Federal Government was subsidising products supply to the tune of “about N1trillion.”

She claimed that from May 31 till date, 60,000 metric tonnes of kerosene had been supplied to major marketers while IPMAN members had received 60,000 metric tonnes.She also added that the NNPC got 30,000 metric tonnes for its distribution outlets nationwide.

“Where is the kerosene? The kerosene has been diverted; the kerosene is being hoarded and moved illegally into other countries. Obviously, we are paying subsidies to other countries because some people are taking advantage of the low prices here,” the minister told the lawmakers.

She informed lawmakers that marketers hoarded DPK, adulterating it with diesel in order to maximize profit.

But, faulting the minister’s submission, Aminu argued that the NNPC had been using incorrect estimates.

According to him, the corporation has consistently put the daily consumption rate at eight million litres in the last three to four years, but insists that the daily consumption in the country has exceeded the figure given by the minister.

He said the 11 million litres the NNPC claimed to supply daily would have solved the problem of shortage if the consumption figure was truly eight million.

He recalled that a few years back when there was acute scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol), a committee which investigated the matter had recommended raising the daily supply from 25m litres to 35m.

Aminu stated, “When the PMS supply was increased to 35m litres the problem was solved.

“I believe that if we do to DPK supply what we did in the case of PMS, the problem will be solved.

“What we are facing now is that supply is not meeting demand; even if there is diversion, it is insignificant. IPMAN is not involved in hoarding and we do not divert products.”

However, the two sides admitted that the bridging of products over long distances could create scarcity even when supply was adequate.

They called for the reactivation of alternative transportation routes like the railways and the inland waterways.

But Alison-Madueke also made a case for the removal of fuel subsidy and the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill to tackle the cartel engaging in round-tripping in the oil and gas industry.

Addressing a question on why the existing refineries were not fully functional in spite of the huge funds spent on Turn Around Maintenance over the years, she replied that incompetent hands had done the job.

In order to avoid the mistakes of the past, the minister informed the House that government had resolved to bring back the Japanese firms that constructed the refineries to carry out fresh TAM on them.

She said the refineries at the moment were operating at 60 per cent capacity, up from the 30 per cent the current administration met.

The House directed the minister to ensure that agencies such as the DPR did their job well by strengthening and monitoring the distribution chains.

The Speaker of the House, Aminu Tambuwal, asked the DPR to introduce measures to track trucks bridging products to ensure that the products were not diverted.

“As for you independent marketers, you should be more patriotic to Nigerians. Also, agencies like the Nigeria Customs Service should do more to check smugglers at the borders,” the Speaker said.

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