Nigeria: SSS tells NNPC and sellers they have 48 hours to end the fuel shortage.  Nigeria's secret police have threatened to carry out o...

Nigeria: SSS tells NNPC and sellers they have 48 hours to end the fuel shortage. 

Nigeria's secret police have threatened to carry out operations all over the country to end the months-long crisis. The State Security Service has given the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and fuel marketers 48 hours to find a solution to the country's current oil shortage.

 The secret police, which is also called the Department of State Service (DSS), said it will "begin operations" around the country if the problem still exists after two days.

"We would start working all over the country if there are still lines at gas stations after 48 hours," Peter Afunanya, a spokesman for the agency, told reporters after a meeting with NNPC officials.

"Because this problem of not having enough fuel has grown to a point where it hurts the security of the country," he said. He said that the NNPC had confirmed that it has enough fuel to keep the country running during and after the holidays.

Nigeria has had a fuel shortage for a long time, and it has gotten worse in the last few weeks as several gas stations stopped selling petroleum products. At first, the government said the problem was caused by flooding, but the shortage hasn't gone away even though the floodwaters have gone down.

Every day, Nigerians wait in long lines at gas stations for hours to buy gas for their cars and generators. Others buy gas from people who sell it in gallons on the "black market."

The government hasn't done anything to stop the shortage, saying over and over again that it has enough stock and that buyers shouldn't worry.

In the mix, fuel marketers have raised the prices at which they sell their products without getting permission from the government, which says it hasn't raised prices since N162.

Many gas stations in the Abuja neighborhoods of APO, Wuse, Gwagwalada, and Banex sold gasoline for between N179 and N210. Outside Abuja, residents said fuel stations sold petrol for N270 in many states.