The re-emergence of killer kerosene in the country has continued to send shivers down the spines of Nigerians. From Port Harcourt to Potiskum, Lagos to Lokoja, Delta to Kano, Abuja to Abia, the situation is the same. The fear stems out of the monumental havoc being wreaked by adulterated kerosene in parts of the country.
As gathered, the recent increase in the price of kerosene was responsible for the spate of explosions in the nation. In fact, a litre of kerosene now goes for about N150 in some parts of the country.
The official price tag of N50 on display at various fuel stations in the country, some consumers alleged, was just for the eyes only because the real price, at which the pump stations sold kerosene before the recent increase, was N95.
Daily Sun learnt that the fact that kerosene is now more expensive than petrol, which still sells at N65 per litre, might have imbued the desire of unscrupulous people to mix highly combustible petrol with kerosene. They pass adulterated products to the unsuspecting consumers in order to make stupendous profits.
In the process, many Nigerians have met their untimely death at various times while hundreds of others who survived the explosions sustained varying degrees of injury. Some of the victims of kerosene inferno now suffer enormous physical deformities.
The most recent of the tragic incident occurred in Oghara, headquarters of Ethiope West Local Government Area, Delta State where a policeman, Mr. Hope Adeleke, reportedly lost six children at a goal to a blazing inferno which resulted from adulterated kerosene explosion. His wife was said to have tried to light a lantern filled with Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK) suspected to have been adulterated with Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) before the tragedy struck.
Concerted efforts by neighbours who trooped in their large numbers to the scene with a view to quenching the fire were to no avail. But the woman, who also received a large degree of burns, is currently receiving treatment at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Accident and Emergency Ward of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) in the neighbouring Edo State.
Adeleke, according to information available to Daily Sun is under deep emotional stress, as medical personnel battle to stabilise his condition.
National Coordinator of the Save Accident Victims of Nigeria (SAVAN), Dr. Eddy Ehikhamenor said some of the victims suffered 85 per cent second degree burns. He stated that there were tendencies that they could have severe deformity that would require expensive plastic surgery if they survive.
In Edo State, a woman was reported to have succumbed to death recently at the UBTH. She was rushed with one of her children to the hospital from Ekehuan village near Benin City after sustaining injuries from kerosene explosion. The child survived after treatment and had since been discharged.
Last Saturday, a 12-year-old girl from Kwale, Ndokwa West Local Government Area of Delta State, also died from kerosene explosion that occurred at her home. She was said to have been rushed to the UBTH on Friday morning.
Six members of a family in Kano State were said to have been hospitalised at the Murtala Mohammed Specialists Hospital over explosion of adulterated kerosene. One of them had since passed on. Daily Sun learnt that a man simply identified as Mallam Isiaku, who resides at Dan Agundi Quarters, Kano, is the father of five of the six victims.
Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Kano State, Alhaji Adamu Soda, said his command had received a number of reports of kerosene explosions in the state. He maintained that another person, Mr. Sunny of 54, Ahmadu Bello Way, Nassarawa GRA, suffered serious burns on his face recently when the killer kerosene exploded on his face last Thursday.
Adulterated kerosene reportedly caused massive explosions in Edo State in 2001 during which hundreds of people were either killed or deformed till date and scores of houses razed. Edo State government investigation panel was said to have indicted the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) depot in Benin for supplying the killer kerosene.
Many Nigerians, who spoke with Daily Sun, alleged that independent marketers of petroleum products were responsible for the current scarcity of kerosene that has also led to the adulteration of the product.
Investigation revealed that major and independent marketers of petroleum products are directly or indirectly behind the circulation of adulterated kerosene. It was further learnt that activities of NNPC pipeline vandals as well as greedy racketeers who scooped fuel from leaking fuel pipelines and sold to the public might also be responsible for the menace.
An Ibadan based veteran journalist and public affairs commentator, Mr. Ola-Olaniyi Bamgbola, averred that genuine kerosene appears to have disappeared from markets.
His words: “In Ibadan metropolis, a bottle of kerosene now costs between N120 and N140.
Some people I enquired from blamed the scarcity on the inability of the NNPC to supply genuine dealers with the product. They rather supply unregistered ones (dealers), who in turn hike the price much to the inconvenience of the people.
“Probably on account of this, many people, particularly domestic users have resorted as a viable option to the use of such things as palm oil fibre, saw dust, firewood, pieces of wood, discarded strawboards, palm kernel shells, plantain fibres soaked in palm oil and others they could lay their hands on, because they cannot afford a price hike.
“I do not think people should be made to suffer unnecessarily on account of kerosene, our country being one of the leading producers in the world. What I feel the NNPC should do now is to strain every nerve and make kerosene available in quantum at all petrol stations and to genuine dealers in Ibadan and other parts of Oyo State, and ensuring that it gets directly to registered customers as a way of checking hoarding and diversionary practice, as it is often the case with some unscrupulous petrol tanker drivers.
“It will also help in checking the exploitative tendencies of the few privileged ones who take advantage of limited supply to hoard the product. On the part of the NNPC, regular and abundant supply of the product will improve its revenue generation, as more proceeds from patronage than hitherto envisaged will go into the coffers of the corporation.”
As the price of DPK skyrockets above the reach of the masses, charcoal sellers in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Lagos, Abeokuta, Ibadan and other parts of the nation snow smile to the bank.
Worried by the astronomical rise in the pump price of kerosene, consumers of DPK have sent Save our Soul Message to the federal government to look into the impasse critically and evolve policies that would nip the annual ritual of kerosene explosion in the bud.
A postgraduate student of public administration in the Lagos State University (LASU), Mr. Gbenga Oguneleye, wants President Goodluck Jonathan to restore sanity to the sales and distribution of kerosene. He noted that Jonathan had ensured stability in the sales and distribution of petrol in the country.
“This is not the first time kerosene explosion would happen in Nigeria. In fact, it has become a kind of annual ritual. I think President Goodluck Jonathan has to tackle the problem associated with the sales and distribution of kerosene in the country. If decisive steps are not taken, don’t let me say the country would continue to lose its citizens to kerosene explosions.
“It is quite unfortunate that kerosene is sold mostly on surface tanks and no more at fuel stations. As long queues of vehicles at filling stations have become a thing of the past, I cannot imagine that long lines of people who want to buy kerosene have returned to a few stations that have the essential commodity. The federal government should take pro-active measures to arrest the incessant emergence of killer kerosene that has continued to wreak monumental havoc on the country year-in-year-out,” he said.
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