PENGASSAN to FG: Explain scarcity, high cost of diesel, kerosine

By Victor Ahiuma-Young

LAGOS – AS the scarcity and high cost of diesel and kerosene persist across the country, Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, has called on the Federal Government to explain to the nation, the reason behind the scarcity and rising prices of both products.

Investigations revealed that while Diesel now sells for N145 per litre, kerosene goes for N130 per litre.

PENGASSAN President, Mr Babatunde Ogun,  lauded  Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agencies, PPPRA; Petroleum
Equalisation Fund, PEF, and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, for their efforts at making the
products available to Nigerians, but argued that government needed  to explain to Nigerians the full status of
diesel and kerosene, whether they had been deregulated or not.

He said: “On the scarcity, let me say that we must give kudos and credit to PPPRA, PEF and NNPC, for making sure
that the products, especially petroleum is available every where in the country.

“However, the recent crisis we are experiencing in downstream sector is as a result of lack of government’s
political will to tell Nigerians’ exactly where we stand.

“If the two products are not deregulated, there is need to use the same template that was used for petrol for
them,” he added.