CIVIL servants in north-east Nigeria have abandoned their cars and taken to cycling to work because of the scarcity of fuel in the region. In Borno State, a semi-desert region on the border with Chad, fuel scarcity is so bad that pedal power has replaced motorised transport for all but the most senior of officials, the local Guardian newspaper reported. At the federal secretariat in Maiduguri, the state capital, parking lots for cars are nowadays filled with bicycles, the paper said. Nigeria’s military government one month ago hiked the official pump price of petrol from 11 naira a litre to 20, but the move has so far failed to end fuel shortages in most parts of the country.