BY NORM DIXON
The Nigeria Labour Congress, the country's peak council of blue-collar trade unions, early on July 8 "suspended" a general strike as it entered its ninth day. The strike had been called in response to massive petrol and kerosene price increases. The trade union leaders accepted a compromise price deal offered by the government.
The NLC leaders agreed to accept a price of 34 naira (US$0.26) for a litre of petrol, a 31% hike, instead of the 54% price increase (40 naira) first announced by President Olusegun Obasanjo's government on June 20. The NLC also accepted similar rises in the prices of kerosene and diesel (to N32 rather than N38).
Obasanjo abolished price subsidies on fuel at the insistence of the International Monetary Fund.
Nigeria's workers and poor were already seething because Obasanjo's April election victory was widely believed to have been achieved through massive vote-rigging. Increases in fuel prices would have a severe impact on the 70% of Nigerians who survive on less than $1 a day.
The strike was massively observed by Nigeria's working class and strongly supported by the youth and urban poor, especially in the country's biggest city, Lagos. All major industries, government offices, banks and public transport were brought to a standstill, as were ports and airports. Market traders, small shopkeepers and taxi drivers also joined the action. The powerful oil workers' unions were set to join the strike on July 7.
However, on July 6, the Trade Union Congress, the peak body of Nigeria's white-collar workers, suddenly withdrew from the strike and called on its affiliates to return to work. At least eight TUC affiliates opposed the move. Despite the massive support for the eight-day strike and the split in the TUC, the NLC surprised many by hurriedly agreeing to a compromise.
"Given the suffering and deprivation Nigerians have suffered within the last few days, the NLC had a compelling duty to avail the people some relief by suspending the strike", NLC president Adams Oshiomhole said in a statement.
At least 16 people were murdered by police during the strike, including 12 shot dead by the police in Lagos on July 7. Four were killed by police in Abuja, Nigeria's capital, on June 30. Dozens of strikers were arrested.
From Green Left Weekly, July 23, 2003.
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