More than 21 families in Rivers State experienced kerosene explosion in 2016. Many did not survive to tell their stories. Some are still in the hospitals battling with their lives. Precious Dikewoha examines the danger in cooking with adulterated kerosene.
Madam Glory Nnorum knows the pain of kerosene explosion. Her sister died last year as a result of adulterated kerosene.
Madam Nnorum said: “My sister bought kerosene at the roadside and after pouring it on her cooking stove it exploded. Her two sons dead, and after two months in the hospital she died. Last year was very heavy in our heart. When I see people buying kerosene at the road side, I pity them because they are ignorant of the consequence of the product they are buying. Adulterated kerosene is deadly. It has wiped out many families in Rivers State; so, I’m not going to patronise it. The last kerosene I bought at the filling station has just finished and I went to the filling station to get another they said there is no product. So I bought firewood which I’m using for now. I know not everyone will have a space where he or she is living to make use of firewood. But I think people should be careful, because I can see danger. I can see entire family being consumed.”
Another resident, Mrs. Cecelia Dinka Woke, a house wife, said she has turned to charcoal for her cooking.
“it is charcoal we are using now. We don’t have money to buy. The question is how many days would it last for a family of six that is boiling water every time. My husband is not working; he lost his job two years ago and yet to get another one. Before now we used to buy in the filling station close to us but when we discovered that we cannot afford the price we decided to be sourcing for charcoal. With the story of explosion we are hearing from here and there, I think it is better to manage the charcoal for now until when the product is available at the filling stations.”
A Port Harcourt resident, Mr. Innocent Oji, blamed the Federal Government and the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria(IPMAN) for the scarcity of kerosene. He said both the government and the IPMAN should be held responsible if anything happened to ignorant Nigerians now “buying their death as kerosene.”
Oji said he is worried over the increase in the supply of bunkering kerosene into the market by militants.
“Following the scarcity of kerosene at the filling stations, many criminals in the Niger Delta are now using the opportunity to destroy pipelines to get illegal product as a cheap way of making money. And people are not complaining because the product is cheap and unknowingly to some of them, they are buying a disastrous product that could end their lives and that of their families. My candid advice is that the public should watch carefully on the kind of product they buy in the market. And if they must use the product, they should pour it first on the ground, light on it, and the reaction will show if it is a good or bad product.
“Explosion, whether it is fire, kerosene, petrol, gas or any other form of explosion that ignites fire, damages property and destroy life is the worst disaster that could happen to any family or individual. But the alarming rate of kerosene explosion in the Niger Delta, particularly in Rivers State, has been attributed to the buying of adulterated bunkering kerosene which must stop.”
When our correspondent visited Borokiri axis of Port Harcourt where “bunkering” kerosene is being sold, some of the dealers agreed that adulterated kerosene was the cause of the incessant explosion.
One of the dealers of kerosene, Mrs. Angela Nweke, said because of the high cost of kerosene most of them prefer to patronise the adulterated kerosene being sold by militants.
She also alleged that some marketers or owners of filling stations also patronise the boys.
“We are not the only people that patronise these boys. There are big men who come here with their tankers to load this adulterated kerosene and when they get to their filling stations they mixed it with the good one. On the issue of explosion, we have informed the boys on the need to properly refine the kerosene considering the danger it is posing to the society. But we cannot stop buying because we are making enough profits from the product.”
Mr. Stephen Willy, a petroleum marketers in Port Harcourt, said it is wrong for anyone to accuse marketers of adulterating a product. He said he decided not to order for supply because the price of the product was high. He called on the security agencies to track down those illegally refining kerosene and selling it to members of the public.
The zonal Chairman, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) Eastern Zone, Ben Dumbari Dimkpa, said the scarcity of kerosene product was due to the activities of criminals who vandalise pipelines.
Dimkpa said: “The refineries have not been working to the optimum capacity. And it has created a garb in the demand and supply but I think with the coming of Port Harcourt and Warri refineries which is working with 60 percent capacity I believe the scarcity would be over. Especially in the Southern zone, there are a lot of adulterated products due to pipelines vandalism which IPMAN is working hard with the security agencies to end the menace. We have our data base of registered Independent marketers that load from Pipeline and Petroleum Product Marketing Company (PPMC) and recommend Tank Farm in Nigeria. So when the marketers go through these channels to buy their product; they are product that has gone through process of refining. Those who don’t know should contact IPMAN, those who buy from the unregistered marketers are patronising adulterated petroleum product.”
