Despite being one of the world’s biggest oil producers, Nigeria imports most of its fuel and is currently facing a severe shortage. It does not have enough oil refineries and even if the four it has were running at full capacity, they would only supply a quarter of the country’s needs, says John Ashbourne, an economist at the financial research firm Capital Economics. To meet demands, the national oil company imports around 50% of its fuel needs. The remainder is then supposed to be imported by private fuel distributors. But for months these companies have been reducing their imports leading to the current fuel shortages. The BBC’s Nigeria correspondent Martin Patience looks at three reasons why: 1) Outstanding debts For years, the Nigerian government paid a fuel subsidy to make it cheaper at the pump. But it was hugely expensive when the price of oil was high. The current […]