Fuel scarcity: Nigeria grinds to a halt

The prevailing scarcity of fuel and lack of electricity supply in the country may lead to economic collapse if urgent steps are not taken to prevent the situation. Already, a number of economic activities are grinding to halt, due to the prevailing situation.

The non-availability of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as petrol at most filling stations around the country has forced Nigerians to the black market for the product where it now sells as much as N500 in some states.

Also, due to the near total scarcity of aviation fuel to run the aircraft of the various domestic carriers, thousands of air travellers were left stranded across airports in Nigeria on Saturday, as some domestic carriers cancelled flights in Nigeria as a result of the scarcity of JetA1, otherwise known as aviation fuel.

This is even as telecommunications companies in the country are having problems powering their base stations due to the scarcity of diesel for generators that power the stations round the clock because of the epileptic nature of public power supply, which in the last few weeks has also become non available.

MTN for example has sent out a notice that if they don’t receive diesel within the next 24 hours, the network will be seriously degraded and customers will feel the impact.

And some radio stations in Lagos have also resorted to rationing their diesel, by shutting down transmissions for hours, or closing earlier due to the situation.

Meanwhile, the situation may not improve anytime soon because of the ongoing industrial action embarked upon by tanker drivers across the country.

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