PH Consumers Lament LPG, Kerosene Price Hike

Consumers of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) otherwise known as cooking gas and kerosene in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, now face shortage of the product.
The situation has resulted in an upward surge of price of LPG as 12kg of the product which was recently bought at N3,500 now goes for N5,500 while 20kg that was bought N7,500 now goes for N10,000.
A dealer, Johnson Nwagbaoso, told The Tide that the upsurge in price of the product was as a result of the foreign exchange rate which had gone higher.
A consumer, Charles Itoro, lamented the rising cost of not only LPG but other petroleum products as kerosene due to the high rate of foreign exchange has become a serious source of concern to the average Nigerian.
“You come to gas, the price has gone higher, you come to kerosene, it has gone higher and you go to even charcoal, the price has also gone high. I don’t know where this government is taking the common men to”, he said.
Itoro expressed disappointment over the increasing cost of petroleum products even when the nation has abundant crude oil and called on the Federal Government to arrest the situation in the interest of the masses.
Another consumer, Christiana Nwanmuo, also lamented that a bottle of kerosene that was purchased between N100 and N120 as at last week in Port Harcourt, now goes for N150 and above at retailers shops.
Nwanmuo appealed to the Federal Government to either build more refineries or allow the illegal refineries to operate freely.
“Since the government has failed to refine the products adequately for the masses, let them, allow those who are doing it to go ahead. All we want is availability of the products.
There is no how the price of these products can come down when the exchange rate is going higher. The only solution is to refine here in the country to meet local demand and possibly export to other countries”, she advised.

Chris Oluoh