The wastage has led to the irony of a fuel shortage for one of the world's leading oil producers. Nigeria's neglected refineries break down frequently, forcing the country to import its fuel. Nigerians now pay up to three times more at the gas pump than they did a year ago, even as world oil prices have continued to fall. A privatization plan imposed by the International Monetary Fund may eventually solve problems at the refineries and shake up other areas of the bloated and inefficient state sector, but results are years off. It could be that investors end up concentrating at the top end of the market because the rest is just too inefficient and not worth their effort.
Foreign investors are also wary of Nigeria's culture of bribery.
Dashing, as locals call it, is so widespread that the country persistently ranks among the most corrupt in the world, according to Transparency International, a Germany-based research group which Obasanjo helped to found in 1993. Obasanjo promises to rectify the fuel shortage, encourage foreign investment and end bribery by establishing an anti-corruption agency and leading by example. He also says he will create more jobs and restore free education. But it will take 10 to 15 years to make a big impact on the mass unemployment and poverty. Some Nigerians will not wait that long.