“Petrol (otherwise called gasoline) is a byproduct of petroleum or say crude oil. The word was
borrowed from French pétrole, which in turn came from Latin petroleum (itself taken over
directly into English in the 16th century). This means ‘rock-oil’. Carless Capel, a German
wholesaler was the first company to register ‘petrol’ as a trade name in year 1892. It is also
called Benzin in Germany which is derived from a chemical named Benzene (Energy Bulletin,
2011). other byproducts of petroleum are Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), diesel, kerosene.
This experience is too harsh on us. Nigerians are suffering and smiling because if you cry you will be punished, so we are pretending to be happy and we are not happy,Fuel scarcity worsened across Nigeria weekend despite repeated assurances from the government that the crisis would soon be over. We are being deprived of what we are supposed to get. I think the reason why the government kept quiet is that everything is easy for them, you can’t see them queuing up like this.
The crisis started in 2021 after the government announced its plan to remove fuel subsidies. Marketers, who the regulators accuse of hoarding the product, have refused to resume normal operations even after the suspension of the subsidy removal plan. In February, the federal government said methanol found in recently imported fuel exceeded Nigeria’s specification.
The development has resulted in a shortage of petrol and queues reappearing in major cities. It has since spread to all parts of the country. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation had last month assured Nigerians that the company had placed significant orders of over 2.1 billion litres of methanol-free petroleum to ensure that the long queues end in a few days. Many motorists have relied on far more costly black market supplies for their fuel needs, and have faced the risks of damaged engines from adulterated products.
I must also tell you that it has affected everything, even the food we eat because, by the time you go to the restaurant to eat, you will discover that the plate of food that you normally buy at the rate of N1000 is now N1500 and when you asked them why is like that they we tell you they use the money to transport the foodstuffs from the market to the house.
It is a terrible fact to admit that as large as the country is, with the number of a refinery in the country, we still have to import a product gotten from our land to a foreign land for refining. It’s quite absurd.
The government should suspend some unnecessary projects that they handle and restore the workability of the refineries. It will both save and serve the country at the same time. The government has been in charge of the petroleum industry for a couple of years now and the citizens have seen no effect as petrol, gotten from the country is still exported out for refining and later bought back at a higher price.
When the petroleum sector is privatized, the country stands a better chance of having the refineries function properly thereby reducing the cost of having to import the same natural resources gotten from the country.
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