Nigeria's Airlines Face Trouble as Jet Fuel Threatens to Run Dry

Nigeria's aviation sector faces heightened safety and operational concerns, due to jet fuel supply shortages amid already soaring oil prices. The National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) said the scarcity of jet fuel has triggered challenges like flight delays and route adjustments.

WION

Related story: Nigeria cuts airline debts to ease jet fuel crisis

Military strikes, gang massacres in Nigeria kill around 100 civilians

The Nigerian military killed at least 72 people, many of them civilians, in an airstrike on a crowded market in the northwestern state of Zamfara, a community leader told AFP, with some bodies "blown beyond recognition".

Amnesty International's Nigeria chapter said "at least 100 civilians" were killed in the attack on the market, reportedly controlled by criminal gangs, while a resident of a nearby village put the toll at 117.

The strike came the same day that another attack by the Nigerian air force targeting bandits killed 13 civilians, in central Niger state, the victims' families told AFP.

News of attacks from both the Nigerian military and the various armed groups it is fighting often takes days to emerge from far-flung, rural areas.

But as the smoke cleared Monday, it appeared that Sunday was particularly deadly, with bandits also killing dozens of civilians in their own attacks.

The Nigerian military denied its strikes killed civilians in both instances.

Bandit gangs, motivated by money rather than the political or religious ideals of Nigeria's jihadist groups, raid villages, conduct kidnappings for ransom, and force farmers and miners to pay "taxes" in rural areas with minimal state presence.

They are decentralised armed groups that have at times battled Nigeria's more centrally organised jihadist factions -- and also worked with them against common targets.

Known locally as "bandits", they emerged in the country's northwest, growing out of conflicts between farmers and herders that spiralled into organised armed groups seeking quick money in the impoverished countryside, sometimes numbering hundreds of men.

Armed gangs killed 30 travellers in an attack Sunday in Zamfara state, in a massacre unrelated to the air strike, according to a security report prepared for the UN and seen by AFP.

The same day, bandits launched "coordinated attacks" in Katsina state that killed 12, according to another UN security report.

Death toll disputed

The Nigerian military has killed hundreds of civilians in its air campaigns against both bandits and jihadists.

Amnesty International Nigeria condemned the strike in Tumfa village, in Zamfara state, which it said killed "at least 100 civilians".

Garba Ibrahim Mashema, a community leader in the area, put the number of dead lower, at 72, but said: "The actual death toll is hard to establish at the moment."

"Everybody, residents and bandits, goes to the market," he told AFP. "People are at the mercy of the bandits. There is nothing they can do."

"Many young girls selling millet porridge and tofu in the market were killed," said Aliyu Musa, a resident of Zurmi town, seven kilometres from Tumfa, who put the toll at 117.

"To be frank, Tumfa market is under the control of bandits. It is their stronghold, any person who goes there knows he is on their turf."

In a statement, the military said that it targeted "terrorist leaders and commanders from across the west African sub-region".

Queried by AFP, Defense Headquarters spokesman Major General Michael Onoja said the reports of civilian deaths in Zamfara were "not true".

Regarding the airstrike that local residents said killed 13 civilians in Niger state, the military also denied reports of innocent deaths, while also saying it would investigate.

Those strikes took place in Shiroro local government area, home to known hideouts for a Boko Haram jihadist faction, as well as non-ideological bandits.

"It was not intentional. I commiserate with the family of the victims," Shiroro local government council chairman Isyaku Bawa told AFP.

Local resident John Ezra, of Kusasu village, said the villagers were "not close to the hideout of the terrorists, but our homes were bombed."

In April, the Nigerian military bombed a crowded market in Jilli, on the border of northeastern Yobe and Borno states, killing at least 56 people, many of them civilians, in a strike it said was directed at jihadists.

The military said it would investigate.

No updates have been publicly released.

AFP

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Gunmen kill at least 29 in northeast Nigeria after targeting young people at football pitch

After Squandering $25B In Refinery Overhauls, Nigeria Turns To Chinese Firms

After a series of failed and costly attempts to revamp its aging refineries, Nigeria’s national oil company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), has signed a new agreement with Chinese firms to revive its moribund facilities. The NNPC has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Sanjiang Chemical Company Limited and Xinganchen (Fuzhou) Industrial Park Operation and Management Co. Ltd for the completion, operation and maintenance of the Port Harcourt (210,000 bpd) and Warri (125,000 bpd) refineries under a Technical Equity Partnership model.

According to estimates by The Punch, Nigeria spent more than ?11 trillion (about $25 billion) between 2010 and 2023 on refinery rehabilitation projects, yet the facilities remain largely unreliable. The Port Harcourt refinery briefly restarted in late 2024 but was shut down again by May 2025 due to performance issues.

Nigeria has chosen to walk away from purely contractor-led repairs to a Technical Equity Partnership (TEP) model wherein partners share technical expertise and financial risk. TEP is a collaborative business model where a partner provides both specialized technical expertise and equity capital to a project or company, rather than just acting as a contractor or pure financier. This model is frequently used in large-scale industrial projects such as oil refinery rehabilitations or mining operations to ensure the partner has "skin in the game" regarding both the operational success and the financial performance of the venture.

However, industry analysts and energy experts in Nigeria have raised significant concerns regarding the technical expertise of the Chinese firms selected by the NNPC for rehabilitating the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries, pointing out that neither has a known track record in large-scale refinery rehabilitation.

To wit, Sanjiang Chemical Company Limited is a petrochemical firm primarily focused on ethylene oxide, ethylene glycol and surfactants rather than crude refining while Xingcheng (Fuzhou) Industrial Park is focused on industrial park management, investment facilitation and infrastructure development. Both firms are private entities rather than major Chinese state-owned engineering firms with specialized refinery rehabilitation experience. Groups like the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) and PENGASSAN have called for transparency or outright privatisation, arguing that decades of government-led "Turnaround Maintenance" (TAM) have failed to stop fuel scarcity.

Nevertheless, Nigeria’s energy sector is now being reshaped by new dynamics despite these setbacks.

The giant, 650,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Dangote Refinery has fundamentally transformed Nigeria's energy landscape, shifting the nation from a massive importer of petroleum products to a net exporter. In March 2026, Nigeria officially became a net exporter of petrol, driven by the Dangote refinery's capacity to process roughly 565,000 bpd and generate a consistent surplus. The refinery produces around 57 million litres of petrol daily, exceeding the national consumption of approximately 46 million litres. This has helped the West African country to dramatically cut fuel imports, with daily petroleum imports dropping from over 42 million litres in December 2025 to just 3 million litres by February 2026. The Dangote refinery has started exporting petroleum products, managing to ship over 456,000 tonnes (12 cargoes) by March to various African countries, including Togo, Niger, Angola, Cameroon, Tanzania, Ghana and Ivory Coast.

Despite the high production capacity, the Dangote refinery has faced challenges in sourcing sufficient local crude, necessitating the import of international oil, including from the US and Brazil with local producers only supplying ~30% of its needs. International oil companies (IOCs) like NNPC often prefer exporting crude due to higher profits, passing on excessive costs to the refinery through traders. Despite the Petroleum Industry Act aimed at ensuring local supply, legal, regulatory, and production issues in the Niger Delta have hindered the mandated supply to the refinery. Meanwhile, whereas the refinery has been able to reduce foreign exchange expenditure on fuel imports, it has yet to fully insulate the country from global oil price volatility, with domestic fuel prices still seeing increases as global oil prices surge. Indeed, Nigeria’s reliance on deregulated, imported fuel has led to domestic retail prices for gasoline surging by nearly 50%.

On the other hand, Nigeria’s economy is experiencing an "oil paradox" due to high global prices triggered by the U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict, generating significant government revenue windfalls while simultaneously driving up domestic fuel costs and inflation. Indeed, the war in Iran has acted as a catalyst for Nigeria’s oil sector, creating a significant revenue windfall of an estimated N5.13 trillion, or nearly $4 billion, in March and April due to surging crude prices, significantly increasing Nigeria's foreign exchange earnings.

Nigeria’s signature Bonny Light crude was trading at ~$110/barrel on Monday, more than 50% above the 2025 average price. Produced in the Niger Delta basin, Bonny Light crude is a high-grade, premium Nigerian crude oil, prized for being light and sweet, with low API gravity and very low sulfur content. The crude grade is used to produce high yields of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.

By Alex Kimani, oilprice.com

Experts question Nigeria’s readiness for China’s zero-tariff policy

China’s zero-tariff policy on goods from 53 African countries took effect on May 1, with Nigeria expected to benefit. Questions remain over its readiness to take advantage of the move, amid concerns over infrastructure, export capacity and technology transfer.

CGTN Africa

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Customs returns stolen luxury vehicles exported to Nigeria to Canada

As part of the ongoing efforts to strengthen international confidence in Nigeria’s anti-smuggling and cargo intelligence system, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has formally handed over intercepted stolen luxury vehicles traced to Canada to the Deputy High Commissioner of Canada to Nigeria, Nasser Salihou.

The vehicles included a 2019 Lexus RX350, 2019 Mercedes-Benz G550, 2023 Land Rover Range Rover, 2019 Lamborghini Huracán, 2021 Rolls-Royce Dawn Convertible.

The others are 2018 Lamborghini Aventador and 2026 Toyota Tundra.

They are all all confirmed to have been stolen and illegally exported before ending up in Nigeria,” NCS spokesperson, Abdullahi Maiwada said in a statement on Sunday.

Maiwada said the vehicles were handed over at the Tin Can Island Port by Frank Onyeka, the Customs Area Controller of the Command.

According to him, the recovery followed months of intelligence sharing and operational collaboration between the NCS and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

The spokesperson added that authorities in Canada had traced a number of stolen high-end vehicles believed to have been smuggled into Nigeria through international shipping channels.

“Internal Customs document dated May 5, showed that the intercepted vehicles included a 2019 Lexus RX350, 2019 Mercedes-Benz G550, 2023 Land Rover Range Rover, 2019 Lamborghini Huracán, 2021 Rolls-Royce Dawn Convertible.

“Also, a 2018 Lamborghini Aventador and 2026 Toyota Tundra, all confirmed to have been stolen and illegally exported before ending up in Nigeria,” he said.

Speaking at the handing over, Onyeka said one of the vehicles, a Toyota Tacoma, was initially concealed inside a container carrying other vehicles and had not yet exited Customs control before intelligence from Canadian authorities triggered immediate intervention.

He said once the alert was received and shipping documentation transmitted through official channels, officers of the command moved swiftly to isolate the suspicious consignment.

He said the officers extracted the affected vehicle and placed it under enforcement custody pending diplomatic verification.

“What looked like a routine cargo movement quickly became an international criminal investigation.

“Once intelligence reached us, we placed the consignment under enforcement watch and secured the vehicle pending confirmation from Canadian authorities,” he said.

He explained that the service deliberately delayed the final release until officials of the Canadian government arrived in person to complete identification and recovery procedures.

“We had people who wanted to step in on behalf of others, but this was too sensitive. We insisted the handover must be directly to the Canadian government to preserve the integrity of the process,” he said.

The operation, he said, reinforces the NCS’ commitment to tackling transnational vehicle theft syndicates that exploit global shipping routes to move stolen automobiles across continents.

According to him, the recovery has revealed the ongoing cooperation between Nigeria and Canada in intelligence sharing, cargo profiling, and maritime enforcement.

He said this was particularly in tackling organised cross-border crimes involving stolen assets, illicit trade, and other fraudulent activities.

NAN