Arrived back again from Mali to find Abuja still in the grip of petrol scarcity. The price on the black market has now gone up to N600 (about £2.5) per gallon. Still laughably cheap for a Brit used to taxation, but murderously expensive for Nigerians used to subsidised fuel.
Apparently petrol marketers are anticipating a price increase after an imminent reduction in subsidies, and are consequently hoarding fuel.
Because the subsidy drives down the price at the pump, marketers in the north of Nigeria also smuggle it across the border for sale at higher prices. The fuel is then smuggled back into Nigeria and sold on the black market at prices close to 600 per cent of the government approved price, because the marketers' stations don't have any fuel. On the Kaduna bypass there are over 50 petrol stations, and not one of them has ever sold a drop.
These marketing companies are mostly owned by powerful politicians, who are supposed to be serving the public interest.
Welcome back! Not a very good time to be buying a car, but mine should be ready to collect on January 18.