september, 2013

The Effect of Petroleum Products Privatizations in

Nigeria on Forest Reserves; A Case Study of Minna

Region

Abstract: Ozone layer depletion is on the increase, oceans and water bodies fouled and solid waste piled

up in enormous quantities just to mention a few. It is the public, particularly the women, that directly or

indirectly bears the burden of the adverse consequence of environmental-related ill-conceived policy

formation and implementations. Every stake holder in the society who is affected by one environmental

related policy or the other has its own opinion of what an ideal direct or in-direct environmental related

policy should be; but lack the political, economic power and social status to forward their grievances

and possible solution .This paper therefore examines the environmental ills associated with the

petroleum product privatization policy in Nigeria, the trend of petrol/kerosene pump prices in the

country, the fuel wood consumption level and the environmental effect of fuel-wood utilization in the

homes. The study find out that Kerosene which is one of the major household coking fuels is no longer

readily available to the less privilege Nigerians and that about 86.7% of Minna households depend on

forest product for their domestic cooking energy. Also that most forest reserves are been turned to mere

shrub lands due to fuel wood harvesting and charcoal production. The paper concluded by proffering the

possible way forward.

Dukiya J. J.

Department of Transport Management Technology,

Federal University of Technology, Minna

ISSN 2319-9725

September, 2013 www.ijirs.com Vol 2 Issue 9

International Journal of Innovative Research and Studies Page 614

1. Introduction:

The drafts of the declaration and programme of action of the World Summit on Social

Development (WSSD) of 22nd

November 1994 candidly recognize that "social development is

inseparable from the economic, political, ecological and cultural environment in which it takes

place ". By this definition, the WSSD has to address those broader issues, all of which affect man

as a social being. Also the 1992 Earth summit in Riode Janeiro, Brazil adopted some set of

principles to guide future development which include among other things that:

i. People are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature.

ii. Nations shall develop international laws to provide compensation for damages those

activities under their control cause to areas beyond their borders.

iii. Nations shall facilitate and encourage public awareness and participation by making

environmental information widely available.

These principles are expected to serve as guide for all the nations that participated in the summit.

Over the years environmental protection, preservation and conservation policies have been

developed, but the fact remains that national privatization crusade and programmes have some

environmental implications and the most affected groups are either ill-informed or lack the

necessary machinery to put across their cases to the world. According to the 1992 Earth summit,

People are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature, and that

Environmental issues are best handled with the participation of all concerned citizens. But the

national privatization policy in Nigeria on petroleum product is like a bitter pill coated with sweet

matter or a beautifully decorated sepulcher that is full of dead men‟s bone as far as the nation‟s

socio-cultural and economic environment is at present. Since the price of petroleum product

especially kerosene is now out of the reach of most Nigerians, many people now resulted to the

use of forest products like fuel wood, charcoal and sawdust (i.e,Gen. Abacha stove) for their

domestic cooking and heating activities.

2. Impacts of fuel-wood on forest reserve:

Forest has two major environmental functions at the global scale, both of which are seriously

threatened by current pattern of deforestation at the national and international level, firstly, their

role as carbon sinks in the global carbon cycle and secondly, as pools of biodiversity, Haruna



(1991). Also the issue of dry valleys and drought occurrences is the lack of vision about how to

develop societies without perturbing the natural eco-system in African is of a major concern. The

cases of drought are not unconnected to human development activities to the point of self –

destruction, Adefolalu, (1989).

Proper evaluation of every environmental policy should be a continuous exercise if the crusade

for sustainable eco-development will not be a mirage in the face of what people like Hinnawi

(1985) and Baba (2003) call „environmental refugee problem‟. In this context, an environmental

refugee is a person who has been forced to move as a result of environmental disruptions which

may “encompass all types of ecosystem agitations, anthropogenic extremes, derive from the

actions of man on the environment in the pursuit of his economic and societal obligations that

render the physical environment useless……”, which necessitate the relocation of people

(sometimes on permanent basis) to safer environments irrespective of whether or not an

international boundary has been crossed. The issue of desert encroachment and drought is now a

major perturbing issue in many African countries including Nigeria where petroleum product

privatization policy is now directly or indirectly aggravating the whole process.

According to the study carried out on the 1986 Haiti fuel prices, it was observed that the cost of

boiling 2.25 litre of water in a 22 cm pan on 3 different stoves (i.e locally made and imported

stoves) was 3.12 cents, 2.25 cents and 1.62 cents, (HABITAT, 1991). It is often assumed that a

shift to kerosene or bottled gas for domestic cooking is not feasible in the poorer developing

countries because it would place an unbearable burden on individual families and national

finances most especially in those countries that are not endowed with petroleum deposits. But

from environmental sustainability point of view and other authors like Aina, E. O. (1989), in an

extreme case of deforestation and consequent long term, irreversible ecological deterioration, this

may be justified. In Pakistan for instance, the government complements its afforestation and

improved stove campaigning by subsidizing the price of kerosene for stoves. In Nigeria, there is

still much to do in this area of lip service to environmental conservation. This study aimed at

examining the effect of petroleum product privatization on the fuel-wood consumption and its

implication on the rural vegetal environment with a view of re-echoing the dangers inherent in

deforestation and the need for more environmental friendly policy in the country. This is carried

out through the following objectives:

i. examine the petroleum price trend in the country,

ii. examine the rate of fuel-wood consumption in the study area,



iii. relate the petroleum prices to fuel-wood sale/consumption, and

iv. offer planning solution to the environmental problem.

3. Methodological approach to the study:

The study generally made use of primary data collected through questionnaires administered to all

the major home-based retail outlets in each of the neighbourhoods as shown in table 1. There is

hardly any major neighbourhood access road in Minna without locations for the sales of fire wood

and charcoal. Also oral interviews were conducted on some petrol filling stations in Minna on the

mode of purchasing and sales of kerosene. On the issue of petroleum price trend which is a matter

of the past and present, secondary data from Digital library, publications, periodicals and daily

news papers were consulted.

4. The Study Area:

Minna is basically a Gwari town but as a state capital, other tribes tend to dominate them

particularly the Nupes. Geographically, the town lies on latitude 9.380 N and Longitude 6.33

0

East, and is about 135 km south-west away from the Abuja Federal Capital Territory.

In term of built-up area, the area coverage increased from 884 hectares in 1979 to 5336 hectares

in 1983 and to 7070 hectares in 1993 (Bashir, 2001). The phenomenal growth of Minna after its

choice as a state capital can be seen in the difference between its built-up area in 1979 (three years

after its choice as a capital) and 1983 (seven years after). With additional land area of 4452

hectares, the town witnessed an annual growth rate of 30% in its area coverage within 1973-1983

periods while between 1983 and 1993 Minna land area grew at the rate of 2.9%.

In 1979, the population of Minna was estimated as 76 480, but according to the 1991 census

figure, Minna has a total population of one hundred and forty three thousand eight hundred and

ninety six (143,896) people out of which seventy eight thousand one hundred and fifty three

(78,153) are male, sixty five thousand seven hundred and (65,743) are females. With an annual

growth rate of 7.9%, the population of Minna between 1979 and 1991 multiplied by about two

and a half times. The 7.9% growth rate within this period is well above the national population

growth rate of 2.83% given by the National Population Census of 1991.



5. Urbanization and cultural-diet diffusion and cooking practices:

Natural population growth and migration are the major phenomenon of rapid urbanization which

is highly accelerated in developing countries like Nigeria. It is characterized by the rural poor or

civilians in an area of conflict moving to metropolitan areas in search of economic opportunities

and security. Urbanization and cultural-filtration is the mother of urban-diet-diffusion, and

increases in city size bring about changes in the food supply system (ITDG, 1994). Traditional

foods become more difficult and expensive to obtain because of the high cost of cooking fuel, in-

efficiency in transportation system and growing cost of their storage and distribution. There is

therefore a swing towards fast cooking foods, packaged and canned foods by the high income

people. But majority of the indigene that tends to preserve their cultural dieting coupled with their

local cooking utensils solely depend on fuel wood.

Although women with opportunities for paid employment cannot afford the long routines of

traditional food preparation and cooking. It is much more practical to rely on bread, dried milk

products or porridge from pre-processed cereals for family meals. These changes do not take

place overnight. But with time, urban diets and cooking practices tend towards patterns which

facilitate the switch to conventional fuels (ITDG, 1994). A better estimate can be made by looking

at a plausible cooking pattern in a low income household relying solely on a kerosene stove for

their cooking and hot water needs. A comparative analysis of domestic energy sources is given in

Table 1 to show the level of effectiveness. The table actually shows the level of effectiveness of

various alternative domestic cooking fuels holding other things equal. The effective energy is the

product of the calorific value and the percentage heat utilized (EE = Cv x Hu%). Kerosene stove

generally has been proved to be more effective than fuel wood energy, but unfortunately the

product has become unaffordable for the less privileged people in Nigeria.

A study sponsored by the World Bank examined a wide sample of such stoves available in the

developing world. Their fuel-using characteristics fit within quite a narrow range. The average

minimum power output was about 0.4kW; their average maximum output was about 1.5 kW.

Their efficiencies generally lay in the range of 40-60%. Assume that the daily use of the stove is

1.5 hours at full power and a further 3 hours simmering. According to the study, taking an average

stove, with an efficiency of 50%, the family's energy consumption is 24.8 MJ/day. This is

equivalent to 263 litres of kerosene per year. Take it as 300 litres per family; it is just about 50%

greater than the cooking fuel consumption of UK families relying on a gas cooker, (ITDG, 1992).


International Journal of Innovative Research and Studies 18

In another related study, calculations based on 1980 data have shown that in countries such as

Kenya, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, and Nicaragua a shift away from fuelwood by 50% of today's

consumers would increase their total import bills by only 3-5%; the figures would be lower today.

Even in the very poorest countries, a substantial proportion of urban fuelwood consumers could

switch to conventional fuels without any serious balance of payments problems. In Mali, for

example, a switch to kerosene by 400,000 people (two third of the population of the capital

Bamako), would have increased 1982 petroleum imports by just 10%, adding about 4% to the

country's total import bills, (Karekezi, 1993).

Stove Fuel Calorific × Value

MJ/kg

PHU % Energy

MJ/kg

Effective

Open fire Wood 18 10 - 15 1.8 - 2.7

Improved woodstove Wood 18 25 - 55 4.5 - 9.9

Traditional metal stove Charcoal 29 15 - 20 4.4 - 5.8

Improved ceramic Stove Charcoal 29 25 - 35 7.3 - 10.2

Gas stove, simple LPG 46 55 - 65 25.3 - 29.9

Kerosene stove (wick type) Kerosene 44 50 - 65 22.0 - 28.6

Source: Boiling Point No. 28 (ITDG - ITDG, 1992.)

Table 1: Comparative 'Effective Energy' for Various Stoves & Fuels where effective energy =

calorific value x percentage heat utilized (PHU)

6. The trend of Petroleum price determination in Nigeria (by Politics or Economy):

The questions agitating most Nigerians‟ mind and begging for answer are: why is kerosene

becoming a big man product, and why petroleum product alone should be the only burden bearer

of the countries maladministration and at the detriment of the poor urban and rural masses.

According to Chief Gani Faweyinmi, (SAN), the claim by the Federal Government that they have

been subsidizing petroleum products‟ prices was unfounded and that the bogey of oil subsidy was

ironically laid to rest under the erstwhile regime of the late Gen. Sani Abacha, when on October 4,

1994 his administration reduced the petrol pump price per litre from #15 to #11. See Table 2 for

the history of petrol pump price instability in Nigeria.



Before the Obasonjo‟s regime on privatization policy (with IMF-loan political under-to),

according to Morenikeji, et al (2001) in a study carried out at Minna on the type of cooking fuel

used by the urbanites reveal that 51.6% of the people depend solely on Kerosene for their

domestic cooking, while 26.0% depend on gas and 9.1%, 12.1% and 1.1% depend on electricity,

fuel wood and coal respectively.

After the implementation of privatization policy in the country, there was a general shift away

from conventional fuels to the relatively cheap and unclean forest related cooking fuel sources

because the common man can no longer afford the prices. A critical analysis of table 2 and fig.1

clearly reveals that the level of affordability of petroleum product by the urban poor and the rural

communities is critically low. Hence the general rise in the use of forest products as fuel wood not

only in the rural and urban areas of Niger State, but all over the country. See Fig. 2 – 5 for the

typical environmental absurdity in and around Minna.

Date Price per litre Regime

Jan.1966-Sept.1978 8.5 kobo Gen. Aguyi Ironsi

Gen.Yakubu Gowon

Gen. Murtala Moh‟d

Oct. 1,1978 15.5 kobo Gen. Segun Obasonjo

April 20,1982 20 kobo Alh. Shehu Shagari

March 31, 1986 39.5 kobo Gen. Babangida

April 10, 1988 42 kobo Gen. Babangida

Jan. 1, 1989 42 kobo for commercial

vehicle and 60 kobo for

private

Gen. Babangida

Dec. 19, 1989 60 kobo for all Gen. Babangida

March 16, 1991 70 kobo Gen. Babangida

Nov.8, 1993 #5.00 Chief Ernet Sonikan



Nov. 22, 1993 #3.25 Gen. Sanni Abacha

Oct. 2, 1994 #15.00 Gen. Sanni Abacha

Oct. 4, 1994 #11.00 Gen. Sanni Abacha

Dec. 20,1998 #25.00 Gen. Abdulsalami A.

Jan. 6, 1999 #20.00 Gen. Abdulsalami A.

June 1, 2000 #30.00 Chief Obasonjo S.



Jan. 1, 2002 #26.00 Chief Obasonjo S.


July 9, 2003 #34.00 Chief Obasonjo S.

Oct. 1, 2003 #38.00 - #42.00 Chief Obasonjo S.

May 29, 2004 #49.90 Chief Obasonjo S.

Oct. 1, 2004 #52.00 Chief Obasonjo S.

Jan. 1, 2005 #57.50 Chief Obasonjo S.

March 5, 2005 #60.00 Chief Obasonjo S.


March23, 2006 #68.00 Chief Obasonjo S

March 23, 2007 #70.00 Chief Obasonjo S

Source: Extracted from ‘the truth you must know’ by Chief Gani Faweyinmi, SAN.

Table 2: The history of petrol price instability in Nigeria



YEAR No. of Pick-up wood load consumed Petrol price/litre (#)

1996 376.4 18

1999 616.8 20.2

2002 932.8 26

2005 1250.8 68.5

2007 2021 70

Source: Author’s field survey, 2005.

Table 3: Average fuel price and fuel-wood sales per year.

Figure 1: Petrol pump prices in Nigeria (1966 – 2008).

7. Sales of kerosene by petrol filling stations in Minna:

The sale of kerosene by most of the filling stations in Minna is like a historical exercise since

most of the workers there can no longer remember when last they sold the product. For instance,

out of the eighteen filling stations located along the Western Bypass in Minna, only three of them

have sold kerosene this year (January – April, 2008) including the recently commissioned NNPC

mini-station. And out of these three, only the NNPC station sells at the rate of #50.00, while the

rest sells between #89.00 to #95.00 per litre. Illegal kerosene dealers often refer to as “Black

Trend of petroleum price product in Nigeria (1966-2005)

0.000

10.000

20.000

30.000

40.000

50.000

60.000

70.000

80.000

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Years

Price p

er

litre

(#)

price per litre



marketers” even sells theirs as high as #120 - #150 at times. The fact is that; it is the major

marketers that divert their products to them at a deal.

Electricity supply use to be stable in Minna in the early years of the town, but the general down

trend of service and efficiency of NEPA/PHCN all over the country is also biting hard on the

people particularly in the use of electric cooker in most houses.

Findings

i. The federal government sponsored Eucalyptus forest plantation along Minna-Suleja road,

Minna-Tegina road and Minna-Kuta road have been devastated into a mere secondary

forest

ii. The natural forest reserves around the surrounding villages of Minna have been turned to

scrubs lands due to indiscriminate felling of trees for fuel wood.

iii. Shear-butter trees that are like a taboo as a fire wood in Niger State because of is

economic value is now a common household fuel wood in Minna all because of the high

demand for fuel wood by the urbanite.

iv. Most petrol filling stations are not selling Kerosene in their stations even though they are

licensed to do so.

v. About 86.7% of every households in Minna uses forest products (fire wood, charcoal, saw

dust) as their domestic fuel.

Figure 2: Natural primary forest stand



Figure 3: Highly deforested secondary forest

Figure 4: Typical fuel-wood depot within Minna



Figure 5: One of the village that supply wood to Minna

The way forward

Nigeria‟s economic policies should be more of masses oriented than capitalist in

approach in line with the new Millennium goal vision 2010.

Kerosene should be seen as a social goods which should be properly subsidized as a

way of poverty alleviation as well as indirect way of forest preservation.

Forest preservation policies and bye-laws should be fully implemented and enforced in

Minna and its environ.

Other solid minerals in the country should be developed to complement the revenue

generation of the country.

The doctrine of eco-development and sustainable environment should be made a

household song through public enlightenment programmes.

The government should encourage the invention of relatively cheap domestic cooking

fuel and methods that are accessible to both the rural and urban dwellers (Coal, Bio-

gas).



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of 23rd

May.

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refugees in Africa: an ecosystem and resource management perspective‟, a paper

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in New Nigerian of 21st Oct, pp7.

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september, 2013

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