Nigeria unions: Strike goes ahead
LAGOS, Nigeria (Reuters) -- Nigeria's main umbrella union has said it will go ahead with a general strike in Africa's top oil producer on Monday to protest against rising domestic fuel prices.
It also confirmed on Sunday that the security forces had freed union boss Adams Oshiomhole after taking him away for questioning ahead of the walkout.
Oil industry analysts said exports would not be immediately affected by the four-day strike, but warned that they could be hit if unions go ahead with threats to call a prolonged walkout from the end of October.
The Nigeria Labour Congress says steep fuel hikes are impoverishing Nigerians, many of whom live on less than a dollar a day.
"Unless there is a reversal in fuel prices by midnight, the strike is going ahead on Monday," NLC deputy president Abdulwahed Omar said.
The latest hike pushed prices up 15 percent to 54 naira (41 cents) per liter in September.
Despite its huge oil wealth, Nigeria imports $2 billion worth of gasoline and diesel a year because of the shambolic state of its four oil refineries.
The price increases have been caused by the deregulation of the domestic fuel market and phasing out of subsidies, a key measure in President Olusegun Obasanjo's economic reform package.
The government says the subsidies drain resources that could be used to alleviate poverty.
The NLC says the walkout is a warning to the government that it will call a more protracted strike if negotiations over fuel prices do not yield an agreement within a two-week period following the end of this week's action.
Omar said the release of Oshiomhole, who was taken away for questioning on Saturday in the capital Abuja by Nigeria's State Security Services (SSS), would not affect the walkout.
"He has got back in touch with us this morning saying that he has been freed by the SSS, but that will not affect the strike," Omar said.
NLC officials said two other union members had been picked up by police on Saturday, but did not know where they were taken.
The NLC has emerged as the most powerful political opposition to Obasanjo since he took office in 1999, returning the country to civilian rule after 15 years of military dictatorship.
Last month a Nigerian high court ruled that the NLC, which has already called four general strikes over fuel prices in the last year, did not have the right to strike over matters unrelated to working conditions.
The strikes have not disrupted Nigeria's oil output of around 2.3 million barrels per day, but have sometimes brought civil unrest.
Nigeria's unions and rights activists accuse former military ruler Obasanjo of presiding over a "civilian dictatorship."
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