Niger imposes nighttime restrictions on petrol stations amid fuel shortage

Facing a fuel shortage, Niger’s government introduced a station-duty system on October 19 to help SONIDEP replenish petrol stations. Fuel sales are suspended from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., except at designated stations, to secure deliveries and improve availability. Authorities link the shortage partly to the end of illicit petrol supplies and the limited refining capacity of the country’s only refinery. In Niamey, taxi driver Moussa Idé Boubacar says the shortage has cut into his earnings and left him unable to make two daily vehicle payments of 8,000 CFA francs each.