Nigerian government imposes curfews following protests

The governor of Nigeria's biggest city, Lagos, today imposed a 24-hour curfew in response to anti-government protests.

Babajide Sanwo-Olu said that effective from 16:00 local time today, "nobody, except essential service providers and first responders must be found on the streets." It follows a similar move in Edo state yesterday.

The curfews have been imposed to quell demonstrations that erupted at the beginning of the month in protest against the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a specialist police unit. These have expanded into a broader anti-government movement. Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari on 12 October announced the disbanding of the SARS unit, described by the administration as the first step to "extensive police reforms", yet protests continue.

The curfews may reduce fuel import demand in Nigeria, which is a major export destination for European gasoline. Booking interest on the route has slowed in recent sessions following a burst of activity when Nigeria's state-owned NNPC extended its direct purchase direct sale (DSDP) crude-for-products swap mechanism in early October.

The initial flurry of bookings following the extension of the contract helped push benchmark European gasoline grade Eurobob oxy to an 11-month high of $8.26/bl against North Sea Dated crude on 7 October. Margins have since slipped back to below $4/bl, partly as a result of the waning west African import demand, and the curfew measures could add further pressure. The west Africa region in general has been an important source of demand in recent months as it has largely avoided significant disruptions from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Nigeria is also the second largest west African importer of European gasoil, which is used as a road fuel because of relatively relaxed sulphur restrictions. The country has received over 500,000t of European gasoil in 2020 to date, according to Vortexa.

By Harry Riley-Gould