Mobile Phone Operators Set To Shutdown As Fuel Crisis Continues...

Nigeria's biggest mobile phone operator, MTN has warned that its network faces shutdown due to fuel shortages that have crippled the nation. The company, the biggest subsidiary of the South Africa-based MTN Group, said it needed a

"significant quantity of diesel in the very near future to prevent a shutdown of services across Nigeria If diesel supplies are not received within the next 24 hours the network will be seriously degraded and customers will feel the impact." it added on its Twitter account @MTNNG on Saturday evening.

Nigeria - Africa's biggest economy and most populous nation, has been increasingly hit by fuel shortages in recent weeks because of a long-running row over controversial subsidy payments.

Fuel depots have closed pending payment of the arrears, with the situation worsening after oil and gas union workers walked out over the sale of two oil blocks. Many petrol stations have now run out of fuel, both for vehicles and the generators on which most people and businesses rely because of the woeful public electricity supply.

On Friday, the Ministry of Power said electricity production was at an all-time low of 1,327 megawatts, according to local media reports.

Diesel generators power most of MTN's base stations and switches across the country but fuel supplies are running low, said the company's corporate services executive Akinwale Goodluck.

Source: AFP