Businesses, transportation crippled as fuel shortages across Nigeria get worse

Nigeria’s fuel shortages have escalated for another day, grinding many businesses to a standstill, including the country’s commercial hub, Lagos.

In many parts of the country, public transport users were left stranded as operators suspended their services, while the lucky ones were made to pay higher fares before they made it to their destinations.

Many private and commercial vehicle owners are scrambling and queuing for fuel for hours at the petrol stations still operating.

Many fuel stations have ceased operations, alleging supply difficulties from the state-owned oil firm, NNPC Limited, which has resulted in black market sellers selling far above the standard price.

Long queues remained stretched in many stations despite the warning by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) against the panic buying of petrol and assurance that prices would not change and that there was sufficient fuel.

The NNPC said on Thursday, in a statement on X, that the limited availability of petrol was a result of logistical problems, which had been resolved.

Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, imports nearly all of its refined petroleum due to insufficient capacity and poor maintenance of its refineries.

Four state-owned dilapidated refineries with a combined capacity of 4450,000 barrels per day have been shut down for years.

The country is now banking on Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, to begin the operation of his 650,000 barrels per day refinery to take care of some local petroleum consumption.