Frustration for Nigerians facing fuel shortages and rising prices

More frustration for Nigerians as they face a duel crisis of chronic fuel shortages and an huge increase in petrol prices.

Despite being one of the world’s top oil producers, Nigeria relies on petroleum products imported by the state-run oil company, as it has little working refining capacity.

Petrol stations owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) have the cheapest fuel on sale in comparison to private operators.

When it puts up prices, so do independent garages.

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Currently, as people queue for hours for petrol, they can expect to pay anywhere between $0.56 a litre at NNPC garages and $0.74 or more elsewhere.

The oil company blames its difficulty in getting fuel on what it described as “financial strain” together with rising global prices.

Its statement comes after the NNPC declared a record profit of about $2 billion last month and an initial public denial of its huge debt burden.

As well as for vehicles, most Nigeria households also rely on petrol and diesel to power their generators as the public power supply is unreliable.

As a result, the weeks of fuel scarcities are compounding the cost-of-living crisis with people already struggling after government reforms to end a fuel subsidy and free its currency resulted in a spike in inflation.