We featured it in today’s “News Roundup,” but the articulate and impassioned Financial Times editorial calling for reform of Nigeria’s national oil company – NNPC – is worth repeating. For a country so well endowed with natural resources, its overall energy situation is arguably in shambles.

Despite ample refining capacity, the country is forced to import petroleum products due to low refinery utilization rates. Monetizing natural gas resources remains an ongoing struggle, while millions are left without power. And subsidized fuel drains government coffers and impedes investment in other crucial areas.

“The case for untethering the NNPC from the political system and restructuring the body is clear. With commercially priced domestic gas and fuel supplies, functioning refineries and an oil export industry that pays its own way, there is every reason to believe Nigeria might finally take off. The status quo, on the other hand, will bleed the country dry.” – Financial Times