•Kunle Afolayan
Nollywood filmmaker and businessman Kunle Afolayan has cried out over the rising cost of diesel in the country.
The 51-year-old director said the cost of diesel is quietly bleeding his businesses dry, disclosing that he spends ₦11 million on fuel every four to five weeks.
Afolayan, who owns and operates the KAP Film Village and Resort, made the emotional admission in a video he posted on his Instagram page yesterday.
“I’ve been sad because I can’t cope with the ₦1,500 per litre of diesel,” the entrepreneur said.
“In one of the businesses that we run, the KAP Village, we spend about ₦11 million in four or five weeks on diesel. And we have solar power, but we’re still spending about ₦11 million.”
He said that while investing in solar energy as an alternative power source has helped, his operations still lean heavily on diesel to maintain a stable, uninterrupted power supply.
According to him, and with diesel now selling at around ₦1,500 per litre — up from roughly ₦995 to ₦1,000 some days ago — the numbers simply do not add up.
To stay afloat, Afolayan revealed that his businesses have resorted to buying diesel on credit, paying off the debt in bits whenever cash comes in.
“The diesel we’ve been buying, we’ve been buying on credit. When we make little money, we find a way to pay. Sometimes it takes two months to even pay down and then get another one on credit,” he said.
“But now from about ₦1,000 or ₦995 to ₦1,500, it’s not sustainable. If you can come to our aid, I’ll really appreciate it.”
His appeal comes amid the hike in the cost of fuel in Nigeria.
The Dangote Petroleum Refinery recently raised the gantry price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) — commonly known as petrol — for the third time in one week.
It cited the global cost of crude oil exacerbated by the Middle East war.
