Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, is experiencing an acute fuel shortage, causing long lines of motorists at gasoline stations. Commuters are frustrated as some wait hours to fill up their tanks.
Lost amid hundreds of vehicles waiting to gain access to a petrol station in Abuja is Yvonne Francis’s silver-colored Toyota Camry.
She was in line overnight to fill up her car, she says, but has yet to get fuel.
“I have not experienced anything of this sort in terms of the fuel scarcity going on in Abuja. It keeps getting worse by the day and the past few days have been horrifying.”
Black market dealers line the road nearby hawking the precious commodity. But Francis says the petrol is overpriced and a ripoff.
Francis is among millions of commuters having a tough time getting around since fuel became scarce in Nigeria in late January.
Nigeria’s oil regulator, the National Petroleum Regulatory Commission, or NNPC, last week announced it had recalled some 170.2 million barrels of tainted petrol that was imported from Europe by four Nigerian oil companies. The NNPC has acknowledged the recall is the cause of the fuel shortage.
Source: VOA