/ 27 January 1999

NIGERIAN FUEL SHORTAGE TO END?

THE fuel shortage that has crippled Nigerian industry and trade will end in two to three months’ time, an advisor to military ruler General Abdulsalami Abubakar said on Wednesday. Aret Adams said in a speech delivered by an aide that the shortage of petroleum products on the domestic market will end as imports continue and the country’s refineries, currently under repair, come back on stream. In the address to the Franco-Nigerian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Adams said: ”The black-market price will continue to fall until the black market is snuffed out in about two or three months’ time.” Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, has suffered a shortage of fuel for more than five years since its four oil refineries collapsed.