Nigeria, one of the hydrocarbon giants of the African continent, has been plunged into darkness for several days. The situation that arose in the late afternoon of Tuesday 15 March left the population in a state of embarrassment.
The Federal Republic of Nigeria, the largest supplier of hydrocarbons in Africa, is facing a major energy crisis. For several days now, the continent’s most populous country has been without electricity throughout its territory. This situation, which remains inconceivable, is creating a stir among many Nigerians.
Specific reasons
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Nigeria has been severely affected. The West African giant appears no longer to be energy self-sufficient. Indeed, the Kremlin’s assault has caused demand for fuel to soar, as well as prices, leaving the country in a severe economic crisis. Only a few weeks ago, the country was facing a severe shortage of oil. Yet Nigeria has a large oil reserve except that it is forced to import much of it because of its insufficient refining capacity. Several factors explain this situation; firstly, the power plants are mostly obsolete. These infrastructures date back several years and are therefore old.
Secondly, these plants run on oil; now there is a shortage of fuel. According to Muhammadu Lawal, a member of the board of the national oil company, Nigeria is experiencing two difficulties in this respect: “The causes of our problems are the war in UkraineOn the other hand, the permanent vandalisation of our pipelines. Nigeria usually produces enough to fill 250 tankers per month, but due to sabotage, only 142 ships are loaded“he says. In addition, on Monday 14 March, an explosion occurred on a pipeline operated by the Italian oil giant Eni in southern Nigeria, causing a reduction in exports and an oil spill. Another incident also attributed to vandalism had taken place a few days earlier. The worst thing is that even with private electricity generators, people do not have the fuel to power them. This is an alarming situation which is causing concern to those in power.
Less traffic and grounded aircraft
Due to the unavailability and high cost of fuel, large-engined machines are mostly parked. The cost of public transport has been doubled or even tripled because a litre of fuel now costs 650 naira, compared to 250 naira only a week ago. This drastic increase also had an impact on the airline industry, which was just recovering from the Covid 19 pandemic. Several local airlines, such as Air Peace and Dana Air, have announced that they have had to postpone or cancel flights due to lack of fuel.
“I especially apologise to all sections of society for this,” said Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari in a public letter. Moreover, this shortage situation illustrates the paradox faced by Africa’s leading oil producing country. Despite its black gold reserves, it imports more than 90% of its fuel because of almost no refining capacity.
