Nigerians have been hit by a double whammy of chronic fuel shortages and a hike in prices by the state-owned oil company.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), which imports the country’s fuel and distributes it to private sellers, blamed its debts and rising global prices for its difficulty in getting fuel.

Many people have been left stranded with long queues at petrol stations nationwide. Commuters in Lagos have been lining up at bus stations, but there very few buses operating.

Others told the BBC they have been forced to trek long distances as public transport prices have doubled along some routes.

On Tuesday, the NNPC said it was putting up the petrol price from 617 naira ($0.40, £0.30) to 897 naira a litre.

Its petrol stations have the cheapest fuel on sale in the country – but at the vast majority of other private garages the pump price is much higher.

When the NNPC puts up the price, so do private sellers and in some states, like Oyo, Kano and Kaduna, petrol is now selling for as much as 1,200 naira a litre.

Many garages around the country have shut because they have run out of fuel, others have closed to adjust their prices.

In the capital, Abuja, most are open but all have long queues as desperate drivers wait their turn – some slept in their cars overnight.

Fuel stations are not rationing supply, so there is a danger their wait will be futile.

A motorcycle rider in Kano, the main trading hub of northern Nigeria, said it was frustrating: “Most of the fuel stations here in Kano are closed because they want to adjust their pumps to the new price.

“I was able to get fuel at 950 naira at a particular station, but other places have already started selling at 1,200 per litre,” Aminu Danyaro told the BBC.

Black-market traders, who buy fuel from petrol stations and sell it by the roadside from jerrycans at inflated prices, are doing a brisk trade in Kano, where there is significantly less traffic than usual.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) – the country’s main trade union body – says it feels “betrayed”, explaining that the reason it accepted the new minimum monthly wage of 70,000 naira ($44, £34) in July was because there was an agreement with the government that petrol price would not be increased.

When President Bola Tinubu came to power last year, he shocked Nigerians on his first day by removing a subsidy that kept the price of fuel low.

This – amongst other policies – has led to the worst economic crisis in a generation and cost-of-living protests, dubbed “10 days of rage”, were held countrywide last month.

Nigerians are now pinning their hopes on the new privately owned Dangote Petroleum Refinery, which has been built by one of Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote.

On Monday, it was announced with great fanfare that the refinery had just started producing petrol – a milestone in Nigeria which despite being Africa’s largest producer of crude oil imports all its refined fuel.

But it is not clear how long Nigerians will have to wait to see ready availability of petrol or a drop in prices.

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L’article Gridlock in Nigeria amid fuel shortages and price hikes est apparu en premier sur زوايا ميادين | Mayadin Columns.

The government’s reserve tanker fleet was being deployed on Wednesday afternoon to boost fuel deliveries, the business secretary said.

Civilians were driving the trucks from their depots in Cambridgeshire and West Yorkshire, Kwasi Kwarteng said.

He has also said soldiers would be delivering fuel in the coming days.

The fuel industry said the situation at the pumps “has begun to improve” and it was working with the government to maintain regular deliveries of fuel.

The joint statement, from 14 companies including Shell UK, BP and Esso, comes after days of long queues at petrol stations.

It said: “We remain confident that the situation will stabilise further in the coming days and encourage everyone to fill up as they normally would to help forecourts return to normal.”

The industry statement also said there had “always been plenty of fuel at our refineries and terminals” and welcomed the deployment of the reserve tanker fleet.

Mr Kwarteng admitted the situation had been “difficult” but denied there was a crisis in UK fuel supplies.

Ministers have decided to deploy troops to drive tankers in “the next couple of days”, he said, in addition to the civilians driving them from Wednesday.

Some 150 military drivers are ready to drive the fuel tankers, with another 150 Army personnel ready to support them.

The Petrol Retailers Association (PRA) said there were “encouraging signs” the pressure was starting to ease at the pumps, with forecourts taking further fuel deliveries.

The PRA, which represents nearly 5,500 of the UK’s 8,000 stations, said 27% of sites had run out of fuel on Wednesday – compared with two-thirds being without on Sunday.

Brian Madderson, PRA chairman, told BBC News that while there were “less queues [and] panic buying” there was still “unusually heavy demand”. He said “one or two” petrol station groups were reporting fewer dry sites than on Tuesday.

It would take more than “a day or a few days” to fully replenish stocks at all UK forecourts, he said, but there was still “plenty to go round”.

On Tuesday, speaking for the first time since issues began, Prime Minister Boris Johnson also sought to reassure drivers about supplies, saying that people should be “confident” to go about their business.

He said he was not seeking to prioritise essential workers at pumps because things were “stabilising”.

Sir Keir Starmer used his first in-person conference speech as Labour leader on Wednesday to criticise the government’s handling of fuel supply issues.

Referring to the government’s flagship “levelling up” policy to lower regional inequalities, he said: “Level up, you can’t even fill up.”

He accused the government of ignoring the issues, blaming others and delivering “half-baked” solutions with “no plan in place”. Mr Starmer urged the PM to “either get a grip or get out of the way and let us step up to clear up this mess”.

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L’article Petrol supply: Reserve fuel tankers on the road from Wednesday, says Kwarteng est apparu en premier sur زوايا ميادين | Mayadin Columns.