Chart of the week: Petrol costs in West Africa

Petrol in Nigeria costs less than half of what it costs in all of our neighbouring countries, and just about half what it costs in Liberia and Sierra Leone, the next cheapest countries in West Africa. On another hand, Nigeria’s daily petrol consumption numbers vary wildly depending on who your source is, and periodic spikes in consumption numbers constantly go unexplained. The subsidy regime in Nigeria provides an economic incentive for smuggling Nigerian petrol to our neighbours.