The Plateau State office of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) on Monday blamed the scarcity of Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK) in the state on pipelines vandalism.

Mr. Jeremiah Manshat, Head Operations, DPR Fidel Office, Jos, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the pipelines conveying the product to the state had been severely vandalised.

He said that besides the refineries not working to their full capacity, vandalism of the pipelines had also made it impossible for the product to be pumped to the NNPC/PPMC Depot in the state.

According to him, kerosene supplied by trucks are not consistent as it takes an interval of two weeks.

“Supply of DPK to Plateau has not been regular because the refineries have not been running at full capacity.

“The scarcity is also traceable to vandalism but there is hope as illegal refineries are being discovered and destroyed by agents of the Federal Government.”

Manshat advised users of Kerosene to switch to the use of cooking gas which was cleaner and more cost effective.

He said that the more than 50 million Nigerian households currently using Kerosene to cook had put pressure on the product.

Some consumers of kerosene in Jos had told NAN that it was difficult getting the product at the government approved price of N50 per litre.

According to them, most of the dispensing points sell at between N110 and N115 per litre.

Mr. Ignatius Uzoha, spotted buying kerosene at the Farin Gada market in Jos North Local Government, said he bought the commodity at N110 per litre.

“The price of a litre of kerosene has remained in that range in most of the places that I visited before coming here to buy, anywhere it is a bit cheaper, you will witness a crowd.”

Mrs. Bridget Ohanele of ECWA Staff Quarters, Farin Gada said she bought her supply at N135 per litre and sold at N140 per litre.

She said that she had previously sold a four- litre gallon for N800 but that with more availability she now sells the same measure for N650.

Mrs. Regina Otoro, a fuel pump attendant at the NNPC filling station Secretariat Junction, said that some of the people who patronise the station for kerosene come from states other than Plateau.

“Some of the people that you see here who come to buy kerosene are from Bauchi and Kaduna, they sleep here before they are attended to.” (NAN)

•Photo shows Gov. Lalong