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    January 16, 2012

Nigerian Unions End Strike Over Fuel Prices

   VOA News
   Youths protest and shout slogan in Lagos, Nigeria, Monday, Jan. 16,
   2012.
   Photo: AP
   Youths protest and shout slogan in Lagos, Nigeria, Monday, Jan. 16,
   2012.

   Nigerian labor unions ended a nationwide strike Monday, after the
   president announced a partial rollback of an increase in fuel prices.
   In a statement, the Nigeria Labor Congress and Trade Union Congress
   said they were suspending the strike and daily protests against the
   increase. The unions said they made the decision "in order to save
   lives and in the interest of national survival."
   Tens of thousands of Nigerians had joined the protests, which sometimes
   resulted in clashes between demonstrators and authorities. In Lagos
   Monday, police fired shots in the air and tear gas to disperse several
   hundred protesters who had gathered on a highway.
   Unions launched their strike a week ago to protest removal of the
   government's consumer fuel subsidy. Fuel prices doubled when the
   subsidy ended January 1.
   In a televised address Monday, President Goodluck Jonathan said fuel
   prices will drop to about 60 cents per liter. That amounts to a price
   reduction of one-third, but remains higher than the 45 cents per liter
   Nigerians paid before the subsidy was removed.
   The recent protests, combined with escalating violence in the north,
   have raised fears that Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, is
   sliding toward chaos.
   Jonathan said Monday the fuel price protests had been "hijacked" by
   those who are trying to "promote discord, anarchy and insecurity." The
   president has said Nigeria can no longer afford the $8 billion fuel
   subsidy, and he promised to use the money saved on infrastructure and
   social programs.
   The fuel subsidy was one of the few benefits most citizens enjoyed from
   the country's oil wealth.
   Some economists have said the subsidy was wasteful. But protesters
   allege that government corruption and mismanagement are responsible for
   the oil-rich nation's poverty.