Fuel Scarcities, Price Hike Deepen Nigerian Frustrations

Lagos: After sleeping overnight in a line of cars waiting for fuel, Nigerian taxi driver Oluwashina Ilesanmi had to calculate how much a sudden petrol price increase cut into his earnings.

For the former Lagos accountant, the hike in gasoline costs of at least 40 percent meant the sums no longer added up: his profits will all but disappear.

Already desperate with inflation, soaring food costs and a battered naira currency, Nigerians grappled on Wednesday with widespread fuel scarcities and a decision by the state oil company to increase pump prices.

For many, it was the latest measure to eat into their budgets as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's government introduces reforms aimed at reviving the economy of Africa's most populous nation.

"This increment is unbearable," Ilesanmi said. "We already have inflation and things are not affordable."

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) on Tuesday increased prices at the pump from around 610 naira per litre ($0.38) to 855 per litre or more.
Private suppliers already sold fuel at higher prices than the NNPC. Some were selling at 1,200 naira per litre on Wednesday.

The price increase came a day after NNPC acknowledged it was struggling to maintain fuel supplies because of financial difficulties.

In Lagos, Abuja and the northern city of Kano on Wednesday, some private petrol stations were closed while huge lines of cars waited overnight outside NNPC fuel stations.

Kano trader Ibrahim Musa joined a queue for petrol at 5:00 am Tuesday. Hours later, the hike was announced while he waited, meaning it cost him 75,000 naira to fill his tank instead of 47,000.

"The 28,000-naira difference is huge. It can pay for parts of school expenses," he said.

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