The Akwa Ibom State government has taken a bold step to address the problem of kerosene scarcity in the State by subsidising the product to keep the pump price at N50.
The State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Aniekan Umanah, who disclosed this, yesterday, to newsmen in his office, said that this development has cushioned the excruciating effects of high cost of kerosene on the people of the State who depend primarily on the product for domestic purposes.
Mr Umanah said that under the scheme, the product would be distributed directly to the end users under the supervision of the office of the Governor and through the already established distribution network of the Bureau of Cooperative Development.
This, he said, would be in conjunction with the Local Government Councils, using five dispensing trucks.
The Commissioner explained that each Local Government Area would be allocated a minimum of 6,500 litres of kerosene for distribution to about 650 beneficiaries in each Local Government at the ratio of 50:55 beneficiaries drawn from each of the 3329 wards across the State.
Akwa Ibom State participation in the scheme would among other things, help to stabilise the price of the product as well as other complementary goods and services.
The Information Commissioner maintained that the timing for this intervention was appropriate as it served the dual purpose of being Christmas largesse and Governor Akpabio’s responsiveness to the plights of his citizens.