Nigeria's leading cellphone provider urgently needs diesel to prevent countrywide shut-down

Nigeria's leading cellphone provider said Sunday it urgently needs diesel to prevent shutting down services countrywide — the latest business hit by a months-long fuel crisis in Africa's biggest oil producer.
Many aircraft have been grounded with foreign airlines diverting to other African countries to fuel for flights abroad.

Some radio stations have been silenced.

Nigeria's woefully erratic electricity supply keeps businesses dependent on diesel generators. Nigeria produces more than 2 million barrels of petroleum a day, but imports almost all refined fuel because its refineries aren't maintained.

The party of President-elect Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday accused President Goodluck Jonathan's government of deliberately wrecking the economy.
"The whole scenario reeks of sabotage," spokesman Lai Mohammed said in a statement. "Never in the history of our country has any government handed over to another a more distressed country: No electricity, no fuel, workers are on strike, billions are owed to state and federal workers, 60 billion dollars are owed in national debt and the economy is virtually grounded."

Buhari takes office on Friday.

MTN Nigeria, which has 50 million-plus customers, tweeted that cellphone service will start deteriorating in 24 hours if it doesn't find diesel. Some customers already are experiencing problems and Nigeria's landline network collapsed years ago.

"MTN's available reserves are running low and the company must source for a significant quantity of diesel in the very near future to prevent a shutdown of services across Nigeria," corporate services executive Akindale Goodwill tweeted.
The government, reeling from halved international prices for petroleum that provides more than 80 percent of its revenue, is so cash-strapped it is borrowing to pay salaries, the finance minister said earlier this month.

Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala denied the debt on Friday, telling journalists the suppliers are asking the government to pay their foreign exchange differential losses caused by the naira's slump from about 160 to the dollar in December to today's 218.

She accused oil suppliers of holding Nigerians to ransom and said she has asked the Central Bank of Nigeria to verify the figures because "there has been so much fraud allegations and scams in this business of oil marketing."

I hope this doesn't interfere with the 2 million dollars being transferred into my bank account.

I was gonna say...
If only, they had maintained their
refineries.

But, the u.s. ran into a fuel crisis after Katrina, due to a lack of refineries here.

Maybe, Nigeria has crystal lickin',
tree huggin' dirty hippies too.

If they lose their cell phones all hell gonna break loose.

Wait!
That Nigerian princess still owes me
money.

This is a way to create instability & confusion in the country for other major covert operations ...how bad will it be? The country has oil & other valuable natural resources that many nations would want to get their hands on....& complete nations are being taken over for such resources....

Me too!

Unless they have a corrupt dictator like Mugabe. He keeps it all for himself.


But that wouldn't happen in Africa.

Wait - Wait a minute...that's not what Uche9aa and his Civil Servant Law Professor harped at me about!!! Nigeria has set all of those scheming/fraudulent/criminal behavior aside and it's all a 'RAINBOW BRIGHT' world over there now!

Didn't you all get the 'Email'

No, I missed that one but I understand that South Africa is doing quite well other than occasional Xenophobia rioting.

Hahaha @ swinging a cactus

Hmmmm, believable and yet when I get FB updates from friends who are in there working or trying to work with the 'Doctors With Out Borders' and they speak of the same-ole-same-ole problems that have plague {literally} this region for many years and the graft/kick-backs/general mafia type thugery that is so prevalent!!!

I'm thinking not so much has changed but the 'Paint Brush' dog & pony show for keeping the tourist trade coming in is well in stilled and the 'CIVIL SERVENTS' know to whom the employer is that signs their pay check

That's what you call a real trickle down economy except it's a drip.

that should shut down 50% of the scammers,,maybe,,hoping atleast