Nigeria: Fuel scarcity hinders Christmas plans

It is Christmas season again and most Nigerians are worried about fuel shortage hitting the country.

Motorists in some major cities in the major oil producing country and Africa’s largest economy are forced into long queues at the pump thereby complicating their plans for the upcoming Christmas holiday.

Nigeria relies on crude exports for over half of its government revenues. But despite exporting two million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil, Nigeria’s limited manufacturing capacity forces it to remain almost wholly reliant on imported gasoline.

This morning I was up by 4 am to join this queue and by my time, it is about 25 minutes past eight. So you can see it's about a period of four hours for me to get fuel.

Nigeria’s inability to pay for gasoline imports is resulting in shortages across the country.

Kenneth Adika, a businessman in Abuja said he had to wait four hours to get his turn at a petrol station. He appealed to the government to figure out a permanent solution to the massive fuel shortages that has lingered on for months.

A recent survey shows that prices of food stuffs: tomatoes, turkey and rice in Lagos, the commercial nerve centre of the country have soared by over 100 per cent in most markets.

Jonathan to be blamed for current fuel scarcity – Lai Mohammed – https://t.co/hjv3hzbnUi

— Daily Post Nigeria (@DailyPostNGR) December 22, 2015

Traders have attributed the high cost of food items to the lingering fuel scarcity and the Yuletide season.

Meanwhile, the same situation is faced in the transportation sector as most commuters now groan over the astronomical hike in transport fares.