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Where is the N50 Kerosene? By Ifedigbo Nze Sylva
Some weeks ago we read in the papers that AP ( a major petroleum product market in Nigeria) was going to henceforth provide us with kerosene at the – by Nigeria Standard- all time cheap rate of N50 per liter under some kind of “too good to be true” social responsibility project. I remember how the papers was awash with commendations for this wonderful initiative of AP with some commentators even suggesting that Femi Otedola the AP top man be given a national honour for being so sensitive to the long suffering Nigerian masses and putting us first before profit which was one virtue most business men especially in this part of the world can not boast of. I was tempted to join in this commendation spree. But I thank God I didn’t. By nature or should I say from experience, I have come to be skeptical about every activity of these latter day Nigerian entrepreneurs as much as I was of Government, no matter how nicely branded it sounded. It was always safer to take every thing they say with a pinch of salt and when they suddenly come around to suddenly act so generous, it was always wise to shift off to a safe distance and watch to see just how real they were. For some days following the launch of the Kerosene at N50 project, the AP Filling station on my route to work (where the actual lunching by Mr President had taken place) was a beehive of activity. I cant say of the other AP stations all over Abuja nor of the rest of Nigeria, but at this particular one, there was always a near volatile crowd of people- women with babies strapped loosely to their backs, young girls, bare chested muscular men, children and even men in Uniforms- all with gallons of various sizes and colours jostling to get a share of this unbelievable bonanza. The whole party obviously lasted for as long as the stock lasted for shortly, the crowd vanished from the AP filling station and even though the sign still read “Kerosene at N50 Here” there wasn’t a drop to be sold to any one. Like some kind of hawks, the other major marketers who had the product made brisk business ripping off fellow Nigerians at prices as outrageous as N110 per liter. I am reliably informed that the same is the case in all the other states of the Federation. In fact in some states, there is a scarcity of the product with consumers buying at even higher cost from vendors and road side retailers. The question now is what really happened?, what was the whole Kerosene at N50 about? Why did AP traumatize the sensibility of Nigerians by giving us a false sense of joy when it was either not committed or lacked the capacity to sustain the supply of the product at that price? Now I am not a petroleum worker and I really might not be an expert in all the minty gritty of the oil industry, but I understand what it means to be a consumer of the product and what the un-assured availability of the product and the suicidal rates it is sold at when available, means. Kerosene is the soul of the ordinary Nigerian. Just like the Rich depend on Diesel to power their heavy duty Generators, so do we who find our selves down the economic strata of society depend solely on kerosene for all of our power consuming domestic activities. I need not go mentioning the almost endless retinue of uses for which Kerosene is needed, but suffice to state that it is like I said earlier the soul of existence of the common man. Any act, action or programme that aims at (sincerely, I mean) to provide kerosene at a cheaper rate in the face of the now unbearable conditions of existence in this country is by all intent a most welcomed one and a life saving help to the Nigerian poor. When such a programme however was aimed at scoring some cheap media points or for some other yet to be understood gains, then it becomes both criminal and morally questionable. I find it most difficult to understand why AP came up with this in the first place and why it suddenly couldn’t continue. At least, I am very sure that it wasn’t like a promotion which has duration of offer. So why the sudden dearth of kerosene in their filling stations. For me this smack of the age long, no body cares treatment the masses of this country have always received from Government who make laudable promises to us and never fulfill any. Our leaders should begin t understand that we are tired if not now out rightly irritated by their endless sweet sounding promises. Last week, I got to the cyber café only to be informed by a visibly perplexed attendant that the cost of the browsing time had been reviewed upwards due to as she said the high cost of diesel which they use to power the Generator. Public power as we know is non existent. A day after, petroleum tanker drivers went on strike for the same reason and words can not describe the untold hardship we all had to face In those two or three days. When shall all these trouble end I beg to ask? Does it still really make sense to pride our selves as one of the largest producers of crude oil when our people can not find nor afford to use these products for their daily lives? Well, I hardly expect to get answers to these questions but in the mean time, I would like to beg the management of AP to stop offending the general sensibility of Nigerians by taking away the conspicuously placed adverts of “Kerosene at N50” from their stations and from the dailies until such a time that they are really ready and sincerely set to offer that service to us. It feels better to be left to wangle in our lack than to be given a false hope of plenty which never comes.
Ifedigbo Nze Sylva nzeifedigbo@yahoo.com, www.nzesylva.wordpress.com , 08063767306 Ifedigbo Nze Sylva, a graduate of Veterinary Medicine, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (2007) is currently on National Youth Service in Abuja
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