Abuja - A fuel crisis in Nigeria has grounded airplanes, shut banks and threatens businesses including MTN Group Ltd, Africa’s biggest mobile-phone company, as fuel retailers halt distribution over a pay dispute with the government.
MTN, which has 61 million customers in Nigeria, said in a statement it’s running low on fuel reserves and its phone network will be “significantly degraded” if it doesn’t receive supplies in 24 hours. Guaranty Trust Bank PLC, Nigeria’s biggest lender, will close its offices at 1pm local time from today because of the shortages, while Arik Air Ltd, the country’s biggest carrier, has cut two-thirds of its 120 daily flights.
Bharti Airtel’s local unit told its customers yesterday to expect “some strain” on its services due to fuel difficulties, while Uber Technologies said its Lagos services are facing longer wait times due to non-availability of gasoline.
“Marketers are not loading products,” Isaac Aberare, secretary-general of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers of Nigeria, or Nupeng, whose members drive product tankers, said by phone from the commercial capital, Lagos.
Nigeria depends on fuel imports to meet more than 70 percent of its domestic needs and pays importers to guarantee cheaper local prices. Major oil marketing companies allege they’re still owed 200 billion ($1 billion) in outstanding payments by the outgoing government of President Goodluck Jonathan.
“They are asking for a balance of 200 billion naira, 159 billion of which is foreign exchange differentials,” Paul Nwabuikwu, spokesman for Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said today by phone from Abuja. The minister wants the claims verified “but the marketers are kicking against this and saying they must be paid or they won’t supply.”
Thomas Olawore, executive secretary of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, didn’t answer two calls to his mobile phone seeking comment.
President-elect Muhammadu Buhari will take over from Jonathan on May 29, causing anxiety among creditors that the new government may take longer to pay the claims, Olawore, head of the marketers body, said in a May 12 interview.
Bloomberg